On My Own
by cpjjgj
Summary: Leila Potter knows that there is no such thing as a normal year at Hogwarts and this is confirmed when she is forced into the Triwizard Tournament with her brother. (Reposted for those of you who asked-most likely won't be updated.)
1. Chapter 1

Fourteen year old, Leila Potter lay awake on her top bunk staring at the shadows the trees played on the ceiling. It wasn't that she didn't want to sleep, because she did. In fact she loved sleeping; but tonight it was that she couldn't sleep. Her twin brother, older than her by a mere eleven minutes, was below her was thrashing in his bed and muttering to himself. She just wanted it to stop so that she could go back to sleep. She had tried everything she could think of: pulling her pillow over her head, throwing a book at her brother…yet nothing seemed to work. After a few more moments (that seemed like forever) Leila heard her brother sit up in his bed and reach for his glasses that were placed on the desk beside their bunk bed. Leila flung the top half of her body over the edge of her bed so that she could see her brother who was drenched in his own sweat. Harry yelped in surprise at seeing his sister awake and hanging upside down in front of him. Leila crinkled her nose at her brother because she could practically smell him.

"Bloody hell, Leila," Harry hissed. "What're you doing?"

"I could ask you the same," Leila retorted.

"Couldn't sleep," Harry shrugged.

"Me either; but who could with your thrashing and muttering," Leila groaned.

"You heard that?" Harry questioned.

"No, I made it all up," Leila said sarcastically.

"I—I had a dream," Harry said hesitantly. "One of _those_ kind of dreams."

Leila sighed before she motioned for Harry to give her one moment. She needed to reposition herself with all the blood rushing to her head. She pulled herself upright on to her bed once more before she jumped off and landed in a pile of Harry's dirty clothes that had built up during their summer holiday. Then, she crawled onto her brother's bed and positioned herself so that she sat right beside him. Leila pulled Harry's blankets up to her chest and turned her head so that she was looking right at him.

"You were saying?" Leila asked.

"It seemed so real," Harry began. "Wormtail was with Voldemort and some other man. Don't even ask who the other man was; because I'm not sure who the other man was."

Leila already could tell she wasn't going to like this dream. It had two people she definitely didn't like and whose names caused her stomach to flip and her bones to shake in terror. Wormtail, also known as Peter Pettigrew, had been her parents' friend. He was the one who had betrayed them and then for years he allowed Sirius Black, another friend and Harry's godfather, to take the fall. Sirius had been imprisoned in Azkaban for something he didn't do; but Pettigrew had gotten away leaving Sirius to live on the run; but that was a whole other story. They had found this out at the end of last year during their "normal year" at Hogwarts. Oh, who was she kidding? There was no such thing as a normal year at Hogwarts; that was something she knew for sure. And who could forget Voldemort, the one who had killed her parents and for years had been after her and her brother.

"Continue," Leila said.

"There was a darkened room with a rug and a giant snake on the hearth. Wormtail and Voldemort were talking…about us. About killing us," Harry said clutching his scar.

"It's hurting again, isn't it?" Leila asked avoiding what Harry had just said.

"Did you hear what I just told you?" Harry questioned.

"Of course, I just don't want to talk about us getting killed," Leila scoffed. "I'd prefer to focus on living, thank you very much."

"What should I do?" Harry asked. "It just seemed so real."

"Unless he's found another head to live on or another diary to possess, I don't think Voldmort is an immediate threat to us," Leila sighed.

"I know Hermione would say I should tell Dumbledore," Harry began.

"Next," Leila yawned.

"Ron would probably tell his dad," Harry continued.

"Maybe you should write Professor Lupin or Sirius," Leila yawned again.

"That's not a bad idea, Leila. I think I'll write Sirius, seeing as he is my godfather after all," Harry said. "Have you talked to yours recently?"

"I owled Professor Lupin day before yesterday," Leila muttered.

"You should go back to sleep," Harry chuckled.

"I don't think I can get back to my bed," Leila mumbled.

"You can stay here tonight," Harry smiled.

Leila muttered her thanks and instantly plopped her head onto Harry's pillows. She was asleep and softly snoring in a matter of seconds. Harry laughed at his sister before he gently pushed her hair out of her face. He placed a kiss on her forehead and tucked the blankets around her. Harry felt very protective over his little sister. Sure, they may have their moments when they fought; but he would fight anyone who would threaten to hurt the only family he considered worth having. Harry quickly penned a letter to Sirius before he settled back into his bed beside his sister and fell asleep.

When Leila awoke the next morning, she carefully crawled around her brother who was loudly snoring. He could probably wake the dead the way he snored. She got herself ready for the morning, putting on a t-shirt and jeans and pulling her hair up into a ponytail. Just as she was about to head out the door and downstairs, Harry awoke and looked at her through squinted eyes. She grinned at her brother before she left the small bedroom she shared with her brother. Leila practically flew down the stairs, skipping the last step before rounding the corner and heading for the kitchen. Aunt Petunia didn't like it when they were late for breakfast, not that you could really call a quarter of a grapefruit breakfast. Nonetheless, she preferred to avoid any confrontations with her Muggle relations and made sure she was in the kitchen before Aunt Petunia even began the proportioning of the grapefruit. The fourteen year old witch turned the handle on the door with a beveled pane of glass and walked into the kitchen. The door closed hard behind her causing her to cringe.

"Leave it open," Aunt Petunia said from the refrigerator.

'Yes, Aunt Petunia," Leila muttered.

Leila pushed the door open once more and propped it open before she walked over to the table where both Uncle Vernon and Dudley already sat. Uncle Vernon read his Muggle newspaper while Dudley sat pouting with his arms folded across his chest and a sour look on his face.

"Good morning," Leila said quietly.

"Not with freaks like you and your brother here," Dudley responded.

"Sorry for even saying anything," Leila muttered.

"Mummy, Leila's trying to use some of her freaky magic spells on me!" Dudley whined.

"I was not!" Leila hissed.

"You were too! I heard you!" Dudley shrieked.

"Girl, go get your brother!" Aunt Petunia commanded.

With a sneer that could rival her annoying Housemate Draco Malfoy's, Leila left the table and walked down the carpeted corridor for the bottom of the stairs. She stepped up a few stairs before she stopped and shouted for her brother to get his lazy bum downstairs. Harry had a habit of never showing up for breakfast on time, which angered the Dursleys. Breakfast and all meals were regrettably one of the requirements to spending the summer holidays with the Dursleys. Harry called back that he would be there in a minute and Leila turned to head back down the stairs.

"Don't shout in my house!" Aunt Petunia shouted.

"Can't do anything right," Leila mumbled.

In frustration, Leila ran her fingers through her long dark hair before walking back into the kitchen. She avoided eye contact with Aunt Petunia and walked straight for the table.

"If I wanted you to shout for your brother I would have told you to do so. I told you to go up and get him," Aunt Petunia said as she sat down at the table.

"Your aunt spoke to you, girl," Uncle Vernon interrupted gruffly.

"Sorry, Aunt Petunia," Leila sighed.  
"Ungrateful girl," Uncle Vernon said from behind his paper.

A defeated Leila sighed and hung her head as Aunt Petunia began to portion the grapefruit. At just that moment, Harry walked into the kitchen with his hair sticking-up in all directions like he had just rolled out of bed. Leila looked to her older brother and rolled her eyes at his disheveled and late appearance. Harry nodded his head at his sister before taking his seat at the breakfast table beside her as Aunt Petunia cut the grapefruits. Dudley had been forced to go on a diet and they all were suffering from it. Except, when Aunt Petunia portioned them Dudley always got a piece larger than a quarter. He also got his breakfast from the fresher fruit, while Harry and Leila received pieces from the day-before's grapefruit, which Aunt Petunia conveniently forgot to leave uncovered.

Thankfully, Harry and Leila had friends who owled them snacks which they kept under the floorboards in their room. Harry's friend and Leila's enemy, Hermione Granger, had sent a box of sugar-free snacks. Hagrid had sent them his infamous rock cakes and Mrs. Weasley had sent them an enormous fruitcake as well as several assorted meal pies. Leila's good friend Cedric Diggory had sent some Wizarding snacks. On top of it all, they had received several birthday cakes on their 14th birthday: one from Granger, one from the Weasleys, one from Hagrid, one from Sirius, one from Remus, and one from Leila's friend Daphne Greengrass. Well, one more person did send Leila food: Draco Malfoy, but Leila refused to eat anything from Draco Malfoy. So anything he sent, she placed in Dudley's room which he would devour upon noticing it. Leila knew he wouldn't tell his mum about the extra food because her cousin too hated the diet.

Aunt Petunia placed a grapefruit quarter on Dudley's plate and then Uncle Vernon's. Dudley looked at the unsweetened grapefruit in disgust, while Uncle Vernon still had yet to put down his paper. Aunt Petunia cleared her throat as she placed a grapefruit quarter on her own plate. Uncle Vernon muttered something about giving him a minute and turned the page of his newspaper. Harry and Leila each had to reach for their own somewhat dried quarter of grapefruit, which they placed on their plates. When Uncle Vernon finally placed his paper down, he looked at the small piece of grapefruit in disapproval.

"Is this it?" Uncle Vernon asked grumpily.

Aunt Petunia looked at him pointedly before nodding. Leila looked over at Dudley who had already finished his piece of grapefruit and was eyeing hers. When Dudley's eyes met Leila's, she slightly narrowed her eyes before raising her eyes at him. Dudley opened his mouth to say something but at that moment the doorbell rang. Uncle Vernon stood up and headed down the hall for the door. While Aunt Petunia turned for a moment to pour the tea, Dudley snatched what was left of his father's grapefruit. Leila rolled her eyes at her cousin, when someone laughing could be heard from the hall. Uncle Vernon was rather curt with the mailman and from the sound of things; he practically shut the door on the poor man's face. Uncle Vernon walked back into the kitchen with his eyes focused on the Potter twins. Aunt Petunia set the teapot down and looked to her husband who looked absolutely livid.

"You two, living room, now!" Uncle Vernon barked at the twins.

Harry and Leila looked to each other in confusion before quickly standing up and following Uncle Vernon out of the kitchen. He stopped just outside the kitchen door and with his eyes, he motioned the twins into the living room. Once they were into the hall, Uncle Vernon slammed the kitchen door shut behind them. Harry and Leila picked up their pace a little and sat down on the sofa in the living room before Uncle Vernon entered the room. The large man walked over to the fireplace and placed his hands on the mantle, leaning heavily against it.

"So," Uncle Vernon muttered.

Leila looked over at her uncle who was drumming his fingers against the mantle. She could see an angry expression on his face through the reflection on one of the pictures of Dudley dressed in his Smeltings uniform. Looking over to her brother, she mouthed the words "What did we do now?" to which Harry responded with a shrug. Uncle Vernon then slowly turned around and with his beady eyes examined the Potter twins as if they were suspects for a crime.

"_So_," Uncle Vernon said once again.

"So what?" Harry asked.

Leila quickly elbowed her brother, causing him to hiss in pain. Now was not the time to upset the overgrown man, especially when he was lacking his daily caloric intake.

"What was that?" Uncle Vernon snapped.

"Harry just had a tickle in his throat, isn't that right, Harry?" Leila said.

"Erm—yeah," Harry responded.

"This just arrived," Uncle Vernon spoke ignoring Harry and Leila's response.

He pulled a piece of purple paper out of his breast pocket and shoved it toward Harry and Leila's faces.

"It's a letter. A letter about the two of you," Uncle Vernon hissed.

"Us?" Harry asked.

"That's what I said, boy," Uncle Vernon furthered.

"But who would be writing _you_ about _us_?" Harry questioned.

"Harry," Leila hissed.

Uncle Vernon glared at the twins before he began to read the letter to the twins.

_Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,_

_We have never been introduced, but I'm sure you must have heard all about my Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny from Harry and Leila. As they might have told you, the final of the Quidditch World Cup takes place this Monday night, and my husband, Arthur, has just managed to get prime tickets through his connections at the Department of Magical Games and Sports. I do hope you will allow us to take both Harry and Leila to the match, as this really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; Britain hasn't hosted the cup in over thirty years, and tickets are extremely hard to come by. We would of course be glad to have the twins stay at the Burrow for the remainder of the summer holidays, and to see them safely onto the train back to school. It would probably be best for Harry or Leila to send us your answer as quickly as possible in the normal way, because the Muggle postman has never delivered to our house, and I'm not sure he even knows where it is._

_Hoping to see Harry and Leila soon_

_Yours sincerely,_

_Molly Weasley_

_P.S. I do hope we've put enough stamps on this._

"Harry and Leila, why's it always Harry and Leila. Why can't it be Leila and Harry?" Leila questioned.

"You're concerned about the order of our names, really?" Harry responded.

"It's not fair," Leila pouted.

"Enough!" Uncle Vernon shouted "Look at this!"

Uncle Vernon dug into his breast pocket once more and pulled out a colorful piece of paper, but upon further inspection it was an envelope covered entirely in stamps except for a small square where Mrs. Weasley had addressed the envelope to the Dursleys. Harry fought back his laughter, but a chuckle escaped Leila's lips. She immediately regretted doing so when Uncle Vernon's glare turned to her; but Harry quickly came to her rescue.

"It seems she did put enough stamps on then," Harry said. "It's a simple mistake anyone could have made."

"The whole bloody thing is covered in them. The postman took notice too. He was very interested to know where this letter had come from, he was. That's why he insisted on ringing the doorbell. Seemed to find the situation rather _funny_," Uncle Vernon seethed.

Leila knew why Uncle Vernon was making such a fuss over the enveloped. It wasn't normal and God-forbid the Dursleys be anything other than normal. They didn't want any extra attention given to them, especially not because of the two freaks they took in thirteen years ago. They even made up excuses for Harry and Leila's disappearances during the school year. Apparently, they were attending a school for the deranged, not that Leila minded. It gave her an excuse to act "crazy" if Dudley's school chums ever got too fresh with her. Uncle Vernon still glared at the Potter twins silently. Leila looked at Harry and then back to Uncle Vernon.

"So, can we go then?" Harry asked.

"What?" Uncle Vernon spluttered.

"We were just thinking that you could be rid of us sooner, it would be two less weeks of us _freaks_ under your house. You can go back to normal two weeks sooner if you allow Mrs. Weasley to take us off your hands," Leila explained, trying to make it sound better for the Dursleys than it would be for the twins.

"Exactly, what she said," Harry agreed.

"Who is this woman?" Uncle Vernon asked with disgust in his voice.

"You've seen her before. She's my friend Ron's mother. You would've seen her meeting her family off the Hog—" Harry began but Leila elbowed him again.

"The school train at the end of last term," Leila finished.

"What was that for?" Harry whispered.

"Are you really that thick? We don't want to make him more upset my mentioning our _freakishness_," Leila whispered back.

"That dumpy sort of woman?" Uncle Vernon hissed. "With the lot of children with red hair?"

Harry's face quickly turned into a frown and he clenched his fists at the insult of Mrs. Weasley. Leila gently squeezed his arm and gave him a warning look not to come up with a response that would only upset Uncle Vernon further.

"Yes, sir," Leila answered timidly.

But Uncle Vernon didn't hear his niece because his face was once again buried in Mrs. Weasley's letter.

"Quidditch, what is this rubbish?" Uncle Vernon muttered.

"It's a sport played on a broom," Harry snapped.

"All right, all right! Shut it!" Uncle Vernon shouted. "I will not have this nonsense in my house!"

"Do you ever listen?" Leila muttered.

Leila face-palmed her face as Uncle Vernon continued to read the letter.

"Send us your answer…the normal way?" Uncle Vernon spat. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Normal for us," Harry responded.

"What Harry means, is the owl post. That's what's normal for our kind," Leila finished carefully explaining.

Uncle Vernon stared silently at the twins with his eyes slightly narrowed, but Harry felt the need to further.

"You know, witches and wizards," Harry hissed.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to mention your freakishness under my roof?" Uncle Vernon bellowed.

"You really need to learn when to keep your mouth shut," Leila mumbled.

"You sit there, in the clothes your aunt and I have put on your ungrateful back…" Uncle Vernon began.

"Only because Dudley's finished with them," Harry retorted.

"Spoke too soon," Leila groaned.

Harry picked at the over-sized t-shirt and saggy jeans that weren't even close to hanging properly on his body. Leila was thankful that she had stopped wearing Dudley's leftovers years ago. The creepy neighbor lady Mrs. Figg would sneak her girly clothes every once in awhile, which she herself would sneak up into her room since she was seven. Not to mention that once she got to Hogwarts, Mrs. Weasley would knit her articles of clothing and Daphne would give her the clothes she had outgrown. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon never questioned what she was wearing; they probably never even noticed that she was no longer dressed in Dudley's clothes.

"I will not be spoken to like that in my own house!" Uncle Vernon shouted.

By this point, Uncle Vernon was shaking with anger. Harry stood up and looked Uncle Vernon straight in the eye before he took a deep breath.

"All right, we can't see the World Cup. Can I go now? I've got a letter to Sirius I'd like to finish. You know—my godfather, the mass-murderer?" Harry scoffed.

"You—you're writing him?" Uncle Vernon spluttered.

"Yeah, I am," Harry answered. "It's been a while since he's heard from me. If he doesn't hear from me, he might start thinking that's something's wrong. Hey, Leila, have you written you're godfather Remus, recently? You know, the werewolf? We wouldn't want them to get the wrong impression, now would we?"

"Harry," Leila groaned once more.

Leila was all for intimidating her Muggle relatives, but Harry was going about it the wrong way. You needed to manipulate them, not just come out and attack them. That was one area where she and her brother were different. Harry was all about attacking first, while Leila preferred to strategize and find her enemies weakness first. But either way, Harry had Uncle Vernon cornered. The older man was mulling over the situation, trying to figure out his best plan of attack; but the only reasonable thing for him to do was to retreat.

"Fine then, you both can go to this ruddy…stupid World Cup thing. Write and tell these_ Weasleys _that they're going to have to pick you up. I haven't got the time to go running all over the damn country. But then you need to spend the rest of your summer there. Another thing, both of you need to tell your—your godfathers that you're going," Uncle Vernon gave in.

"All right," Harry smiled.

"We'll get right on that then," Leila said standing up beside her brother.

With his eyes, Uncle Vernon excused them from the living room. Leila grabbed her brother's arm and dragged him from the living room and into the hall. Harry grinned as Uncle Vernon's eyes followed them out of the room. When they got into the hall, Leila tripped over Dudley who had been lurking outside the entrance to the living room. Harry didn't grip her as she fell, causing her to fall face first into the carpeted floor. Surprisingly, both Harry and Dudley chuckled at Leila's expense, but when Dudley saw the grin on Harry's face his own face soured.

"Why are you grinning, Potter?" Dudley questioned.

"That was an excLeilant breakfast, wasn't it? I feel really full, don't you?" Harry grinned.

Harry laughed as his cousin spluttered for words and stepped over his sister to head upstairs. Her brother took the stairs three at a time as Leila remained on the floor.

"Harry James Potter," Leila hissed.

"Meet you upstairs," Harry called.

"Ugh, some brother you are," Leila groaned.

Leila pushed herself up from the floor at dusted off her shirt and jeans. Dudley stared at her, unable to form any words. She knew that she shouldn't say anything, but weighing the consequences in her head, now that Uncle Vernon had given her permission to go, he really couldn't do anything to her if she did say something to Dudley. He was terrified Harry's "mass-murdering" godfather or her own werewolf godfather would ruin their perfectly normal lives at this point. A grin overtook Leila's face.

"Better luck next time at getting me in trouble, Dudders," Leila whispered.

As Dudley once again spluttered to find a decent comeback, Leila headed up the stairs pretending to look innocent. She too could get her jabs in at people, but hers were more calculated than her brother's. Leila opened the door into the room she shared with Harry when a small ball of feathers came flying at her. Harry jumped and quickly shut the door behind her and yLeilad for the owl to calm down. Upon further examining the owl, she realized it was Pig, Ron's owl. Ron used to have a rat named Scabbers, but Scabbers turned out to be a human rat: Peter Pettigrew, the man who had really ratted out her parents to Lord Voldemort. Anyway, Ron now had an owl and it was terrorizing her bedroom. Pig knocked the pieces of parchment which were letters from her friends from her bed causing them to fall to the floor. Leila quickly ran over to pick up her papers from the floor.

"What the bloody hell is Pig doing here?" Leila asked.

"Ron sent a note. They'll be here at five o'clock tomorrow," Harry commented.

"Not soon enough," Leila muttered.

"Hang on a minute, how do you know Pig's name?" Harry asked.

"Ginny told me about the name in one of her letters," Leila shrugged.

Harry bent over and picked up one of Leila's letters and examined it. Judging by Harry's expression, he wasn't too happy with what he saw.

"Diggory? You've been writing Diggory this summer?" Harry questioned.

"His name is Cedric and he's my friend," Leila said as she snatched her letter back.

"Couldn't you find other friends?" Harry asked.

"Would you prefer me to be friends with Malfoy?" Leila scoffed.

"No, I was just thinking maybe this year you could finally…" Harry began.

"Every summer you tell me to be friends with Granger. When are you going to get it through your thick skull that I don't like her and never will?" Leila questioned.

"If you'd only give her a chance," Harry furthered.

"She's bloody annoying, so it's not likely," Leila commented. "Besides, I happen to like my friends."

"I don't trust those snakes," Harry said.

"Harry, Slytherins protect their own," Leila retorted.

"And Parkinson and Bulstrode are prime examples?" Harry furthered.

"Well you certainly can't expect everyone to like you, now can you? Besides, the only reason Parkinson hates me is because Malfoy likes me better than he likes her and Bulstrode's a daft bimbo who goes along with anything Pansy wants. So you really can't count them," Leila argued.

"I just think…" Harry began.

"I'm not befriending Granger, so get over it," Leila groaned.

Harry sighed and walked over to the desk and reached for a quill to send a note back to Ron with Pig. Leila set her letters back on her bed and walked over to Hedwig's cage, where Pig sat perched on top. She reached for one of Hedwig's treats and held it out for Pig to grab. Eagerly, Pig gulped the treat down in one peck and looked at Leila as if he expected more from her. Leila chuckled and turned to her brother who was scribbling furiously.

"Can I read Ron's note?" Leila asked.

Harry grunted and pointed to the piece of parchment on the corner of the desk which Leila reached for. Harry didn't even look up at Leila but continued to finish his note to Ron instead. Leila sighed, she knew Hermione Granger was a sore spot with her brother, but he was being completely unreasonable about this. She and Granger were water and oil; they didn't mix…at least not very well. Sitting on the bottom bunk, which belonged to Harry, Leila turned her attention to Ron's note.

_Harry(and I suppose you'll read this too, Leila)—DAD GOT THE TICKETS—Ireland versus Bulgaria, Monday night. Mum's writing to the Muggles to ask you and Leila to stay. They might already have the letter; I'm not sure how fast the Muggle post is. Thought I'd send this with Pig anyway. We're coming for you guys whether the Muggles like it or not, you can't miss the World Cup, only Mum and Dad reckon it's better if we pretend to ask their permission first. If they say yes, send Pig back with your answer pronto, and we'll come and get you at five o'clock on Sunday. If they say no, send Pig back and we'll come and get you at five o'clock on Sunday anyway. Hermione's arriving this afternoon. Percy's started work—the Department of International Cooperation. Don't mention anything about Abroad while you're here unless you want the pants bored off you. Tell Leila I say hey and that I'll see her soon._

_See you soon too,_

_Ron_

As Leila finished the letter, Harry stood up and walked over to Pig. He attempted attach the note to the bird's leg, but he was stubborn and refused to ask for Leila's help in the matter. After several failed attempts to attach it, Leila walked over to her brother and gently convinced him to let her have a try. She rubbed her hand down the owl's neck, which caused him to settle down for a moment. A moment which Leila's small and nimble fingers quickly attached the small note to Pig's leg. Harry opened the window and Pig zoomed out of it into cloudy sky. Leila then handed Harry back his note.

"I can't believe Granger's going to be there. She doesn't even like Quidditch," Leila groaned.

"Like Mrs. Weasley said, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Harry commented.

"I'm not explaining anything about the game to her," Leila retorted.

"I think Ron and I can handle it," Harry said.

"I mean really, she's dead-awful at anything flying related," Leila added.

"I get it Leila, just don't rub it in when you're around her, please," Harry asked.

"I'm not making any promises," Leila muttered.

"Well, I'm going to finish writing Sirius. You should probably tell Remus too. I'm sure he'd like to know that you're going to the Quidditch World Cup," Harry commanded.

"I was already planning on writing Remus, thank you very much. You're only doing it because you said it as something to intimidate Uncle Vernon. I on the other hand, being the more responsible twin, already planned on doing so. Besides, I wrote him the other day," Leila retorted.

"Whatever," Harry scoffed.

Harry sat down once more at the single desk in their room, so Leila climbed onto her bed, the top bunk, and reached for one of her school textbooks she kept buried in the crack between the wall and the bed. Placing a blank piece of parchment on top of the book, she wrote her letter to her own godfather: Remus Lupin. She had only discovered last year that Remus Lupin, her DADA professor last year, was in fact her godfather. He had been friends with her parents during their Hogwarts days, thus paving the way to being her godfather. At first she wondered why Remus didn't take her and Harry out of their personal hell known as the Number Four Privet Drive; but after the events of last school year, she understood. Her godfather was also a werewolf and he didn't trust himself to be able to take care of two children, especially during a full moon. So, they were stuck here during their summers, but he always responded to her letters which made her feel not so much alone.

_Professor Lupin,_

_I know I just wrote a few days ago, but I have a surprising update. Arthur Weasley, (Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny's father, in case you've forgotten) has come across tickets to the World Cup! So, the Weasleys have asked Harry and I to go with them! I'm very excited to finally be attending a professional Quidditch match, even if the English National team did suffer a terrible defeat. Either way, Ireland has some excLeilant Chasers but will they be able to outscore Krum before he catches the Snitch remains the question. Just thought you should know that Harry and I will be there and then spending the remainder of our summer holidays at the Burrow. Also, I think the Professor Lupin thing is getting rather formal, don't you think? How about Uncle Remus? I always wanted an uncle…well, a decent one anyway. I hope you're doing well and look forward to hearing from you soon. _

_Your goddaughter,_

_Leila_

Leila carefully folded the parchment as Harry was about to let Hedwig out the window.

"Hold on, you prat," Leila groaned.

"I'm sending my note," Harry said.

"What about mine?" Leila asked.

"Dunno, should've thought of that first," Harry shrugged.

"You're the one who told me to write it," Leila shot back.

"No, you said you already planned on doing it," Harry chuckled.

"Whatever, I'll send it when we're at the Burrow. It can wait a few days," Leila said rolling her eyes.

Harry shot her a look before Hedwig flew off his arm carrying his note for Sirius. Harry then crawled under their bunk bed and loosed up the floorboard. He pulled out one of the birthday cakes and handed Leila a piece.

"Thanks," Leila muttered.

Just as Leila was about to take a bite out of her piece of cake an owl landed on their windowsill.

"What are we, Kings Cross for owls, today?" Leila muttered.

Harry unattached the small package from the owl's leg and it instantly flew away. He examined the package and found that it was addressed to Leila so he tossed it up to her on her bed. Leila reached for the package and stared for a moment at her name. She recognized the scrawl and groaned.

"This better not be who I think it's from," Leila muttered.

She opened the small note to find that her assumption was correct. The package was from Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin prat who wouldn't leave her alone…the pompous arrogant git. Leila wasn't sure there were enough adjectives in the English language to describe how bloody annoying the prat was. She looked at the note and rolled her eyes. _I know they're your favorite_. Ugh, Leila rolled her eyes as she unwrapped the package: Pumpkin Pasties. Leila jumped off the bed and opened the door out of their room.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked.

"If it's poisoned, I might as well give it to Dudley," Leila answered.

"So you're the reason he hasn't been losing any weight," Harry chuckled.

"It's a win-win situation. I make sure it isn't poisoned and he gets his sweets, even if he doesn't know that they come from our _freaky_ world," Leila smirked.

Harry shook his head as Leila tip-toed down the hallway toward Dudley's room. She knocked on the door and didn't get a response, so she snuck in and placed the Pumpkin Pasty on his bedside table and quickly left. She then headed back to her room where she was going to prepare for her departure the next day. She wasn't like Harry who normally packed at the last minute, she liked to get it over with so that she could check and recheck that she had everything packed. So when she got back to her room, she excitedly began to pack for her departure from Number Four Privet Drive.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Leila woke up the morning the Weasleys were coming to pick them up to the sounds of Harry checking every nook and cranny of their room for his belongings. Leila's trunk and book bag stood packed in the corner with one of Harry's dirty socks strewn on her things. She rolled over on her mattress attempting to go back to sleep, but Harry was making too much noise to keep her from going back to sleep. After a loud groan, Leila sat up in bed and watched her brother on all fours looking under the bunk bed for his belongings. Her brother was such a slob. Granted, she wasn't the neatest person in the world, but her messes were nothing compared to those of her brother.

"You're up early," Leila yawned.

"Just want to make sure I pack everything," Harry grunted from under the bed.

"That's why you should have packed yesterday, like me," Leila retorted.

"Yeah, well, I'm not you," Harry responded.

"Clearly," Leila said rolling her eyes.

With a grin on his face, Harry tossed one of his dirty socks up at Leila which caused her to scream. Her hands instantly flew over her mouth trying to stifle any further screams. For a moment, she and Harry sat there silently making sure that they hadn't woken up any of the Dursleys; but when the shouts of _boy_ or _girl _didn't come, they knew they were in the clear. With only the tips of her fingers, Leila reached for the sock and held it an arm's length away from her before she dropped it back down on Harry.

"You're disgusting and while you're at it, get that smelly old sock off my trunk," Leila commanded.

Leila jumped from the top bunk and landed onto the floor covered in Harry's dirty clothes. He must have shoved his dirty clothes far underneath the bed, where even she didn't realize they were there. Thankfully, she had slept in her socks so she tip-toed over the articles of clothing strewn on the floor and headed for the bathroom. After she had prepared herself for the day, dressing in a black t-shirt and jeans, she headed downstairs for breakfast. Surprisingly, Harry was already downstairs with the Dursleys; but they all sat there silently and awkwardly. Uncle Vernon was dressed in his best suit which clearly was his way to try and intimidate the Weasleys: money. Only, he didn't know that money didn't mean a great deal to the Weasleys, especially not the Muggle variety. Aunt Petunia had a blank expression on her face, but Dudley's expression was one of worry. Dudley hadn't exactly had the best track record with wizards; Hagrid had given him a pig's tail upon their first meeting. Harry sat there with a smile on his face; he was clearly excited about finally leaving this afternoon.

Breakfast was an awkward and silent affair, but when it was finally over, Harry and Leila retreated back to their bedroom. Once back inside, they found an owl sitting on their windowsill. Leila immediately knew who the owl belonged to, but Harry stared at it quizzically. Harry walked over to the owl and untied the note from around the owl's leg. He examined the letter, noticing that it was for Leila; but his instincts as big brother kicked in and he opened Leila's note. Leila practically flew at him trying to get her note back. While Harry wasn't very tall, he still had several inches on Leila which made it hard for her to reach her note.

"Give it here, it's mine," Leila growled.

"So you know who it's from then?" Harry asked.

"Of course," Leila said rolling her eyes.

"Who?" Harry questioned.

"Cedric, now give it here," Leila insisted.

"Diggory? I need to read it first then," Harry said.

"Harry!" Leila shouted.

But Harry didn't listen to his sister. He tore open the letter and began to read the letter aloud with his own commentary:

_Dear Leila, _(Who does this bloke think he is?)

_I just heard the great news that you're going to the World Cup! I'll be there as well! _(Oh goody)_ We'll actually be traveling there together. _(Not if I have anything to say about it.)_ I live just a short distance from the Weasleys. I'm looking forward to seeing you._ (I'm not) _From the sound of your summer, I think you could use this break before school starts again._ (What exactly have you been telling him?)_ I hope Ireland can get the win, even if Krum is the best Seeker in the world. _(I suppose he at least has some intelligence)_ Well, I just wanted to tell you that I'll be seeing you soon. Tell your brother I say 'hello' _(Please don't)

_Cedric_

Leila stood in front of the door with her arms folded across her chest, glaring at her brother. She held out her hand for Harry to place the note he had just read into her hand. Harry shook his head, refusing to hand Leila's letter over to her as he backed up a few steps from his sister.

"I don't like him," Harry said gruffly.

"You don't actually know him," Leila retorted. "Besides, you know that he and I have been friends since first year. Why didn't you stop us then?"

"Because right now I don't like you fancying him," Harry added.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Leila said her face blushing.

"I know you fancy him, Hermione said so," Harry furthered.

"Granger doesn't know a damn thing about it or me," Leila hissed.

"He's too old for you," Harry responded.

"He's just as old as Fred and George," Leila shot back.

"So you admit it then?' Harry questioned.

"I didn't say that," Leila hissed.

"But you didn't deny it," Harry said.

"Just give me my bloody letter," Leila said.

"You're too young," Harry insisted.

"I'm not talking about this with you," Leila hissed.

Leila walked over to Harry and quickly snatched the letter from his hands which caused the note to rip in half. She growled at her brother before she jumped up onto her bed to avoid him. Plopping herself down onto her pillow, Harry walked over to the bunk bed and looked at his sister oddly. Leila tossed her pillow at her brother's face before rolling on her side to face the wall. The pillow caught Harry by surprise and smacked him in the face before he caught it with his hands. Knowing that Leila was going to be stubborn, he gently set her pillow back on her bed before he moved to finish packing his trunk. When Aunt Petunia eventually called the twins down for lunch, Leila still wasn't talking to Harry which made lunch an even quieter affair than breakfast. The group sat there quietly eating their cottage cheese and grated celery, until Uncle Vernon broke the silence.

"They'll be driving, right?" Uncle Vernon hissed.

"Erm…" Harry began.

Harry looked to his sister for help, but Leila simply raised an eyebrow. No one had really mentioned _how_ they were coming, only that they were. The Weasleys no longer had a car because their Ford Anglia was currently residing in the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts. The car had been there since second year when Harry and Ron got the smart idea to fly the car to Hogwarts once they missed the train and of course she got dragged along with them. Well, the car crash landed into the Whomping Willow and then drove off into the forest. But that probably wouldn't be the best story to explain to the Dursleys. Instead, Leila hoped that the Ministry let Mr. Weasley borrow one of the cars like last year.

"I asked you a question, boy," Uncle Vernon said gruffly.

"I think so," Harry said.

Leila scoffed slightly into her cottage cheese, but took a bite before Uncle Vernon could question her. When she had finished eating her lunch, she excused herself back to her bedroom without even waiting for Harry because she was still upset with him about Cedric. Harry didn't know a thing about Cedric. Well, he did, but there was no way Harry could comprehend her friendship with Cedric. But to accuse her and tell her what she could and couldn't do wasn't his job. Harry was her brother, not her father. So she may slightly fancy Cedric, but it wasn't any of Harry's business! Leila marched up the stairs and slammed the bedroom door shut behind her. As she heard Harry's footsteps running up the stairs, Leila climbed into her bed once again. The bad thing about being at the Dursleys was that there was nowhere to hide from her brother, so she isolated herself to her bed. Harry walked in and looked at his sister.

"You can't seriously still be upset," Harry groaned.

"So now you get to tell me when I can and can't be upset?" Leila hissed.

"Leila," Harry sighed.

With her back to her brother, Leila turned her attention to the book she had buried on the side of her bed. Harry walked over to his sister, knowing that what he was about to do would either make his sister more upset, but more than likely, it would get her out of her foul mood. He reached his fingers for his sister's side and tickled her. Leila flopped back on her pillow and screamed in surprised. Harry continued to tickle his little sister as she flailed and laughed over her bed.

"Harry. Stop. I'm going to fall. Off. My bed." Leila gasped between laughs.

Harry stopped tickling his little sister and grinned at her. She attempted to hide a grin from her face.

"You done being cranky?' Harry asked.

"Or what?" Leila retorted.

"You know what'll happen," Harry grinned.

"I'm done, I'm done," Leila giggled.

"Good, can't have you acting like a Dursley when Mr. Weasley gets here," Harry responded.

"I wasn't acting like them," Leila pouted.

The Potter twins spent the rest of the afternoon in their bedroom for the last time during the summer holidays. Harry re-read the letter from Ron several times and at quarter to five, he dragged Leila downstairs to wait with the already anxious Dursleys. The twins found Uncle Vernon pretending to read the paper, Aunt Petunia fidgeting with the cushions and pillows, and Dudley sat in the corner armchair with his hands covering his bottom. Leila chuckled at her cousin's expense and sat down on the sofa. Harry sat down beside her, but he only lasted in the room a few minutes because the tensions were high. Leila watched as her brother went and sat on the stairs, but Leila stayed on the couch and softly hummed a song she had learned last year in the Hogwarts choir "Something Wicked This Way Comes." At five o'clock, the grandfather clock in the living room began to chime. When the clock had finished its song, Uncle Vernon stood up and walked to the front door. He opened the door to check for any sight of the Weasleys, but was only furthered disgruntled when he shut the door.

"They're late," Uncle Vernon growled.

"I know," Harry answered.

"Maybe the traffic's bad or something," Leila added.

"No consideration," Uncle Vernon muttered.

Uncle Vernon then waddled back into the living room and sat down in his chair. He and Aunt Petunia talked quietly until they were interrupted by banging noises from behind the electric fireplace. The Dursleys scattered into the kitchen and Leila instinctively backed-up farther onto the couch using a pillow as a barrier to somewhat hide herself. Harry ran into the living room from the stairs trying to figure out what was happening. Suddenly voices accompanied the banging from behind the blocked fireplace.

"Ouch! Fred, no—go back, go back! Tell George not to—OUCH! George there's no room. Go back and tell Ron…" a familiar voice began.

Leila's body relaxed once she realized that the noises were coming from the Weasleys. She set the pillow back down on the couch and awkwardly patted it like she hadn't picked it up in the first place. Suddenly, the sound of pounding fists against the boards behind the electric fireplace filled the room.

"Harry? Leila? Can you hear us?" Mr. Weasley called.

The Dursleys appeared back in the living room and they looked absolutely livid.

"What's going on?" Uncle Vernon growled.

Harry and Leila looked to each other, silently trying to figure out who should explain the situation to the Dursleys.

"They tried to travel here by Floo Powder," Harry began.

"It's a form of travel between fireplaces," Leila explained.

"Only you've blocked the fireplace," Harry finished.

Leila walked over to the fireplace with its mantle which had been covered in pictures of Dudley, many of which were not shattered on the floor.

"Mr. Weasley? Can you hear me?" Leila called.

The pounding stopped and voices were shushing each other behind the boarded up fireplace. Harry walked over and stood beside Leila.

"Mr. Weasley, it's Harry…" Harry began.

"And Leila!" Leila added.

"The fireplace has been blocked up. You won't be able to get through there," Harry explained.

"Damn! Why in Merlin's name did they want to block up the fireplace for?" Mr. Weasley asked from behind the boards.

"They've got an electric one instead," Leila said.

"Really? Eclectic? With a plug? Merlin's beard, I must see that! But first to get out of here…" Mr. Weasley said.

There was a slight crash from inside the blocked-up fireplace and groaning from the twins.

"Ron," one of the twins groaned.

"What are we doing here? Has something gone wrong?" Ron asked.

"Of course not, Ron," Fred said sarcastically. "This is exactly the kind of place where we wanted to end up."

"Yeah, we've been having quite the party here," George too responded sarcastically.

"I was only asking," Ron groaned.

"You hear that, George, Ronniekins was only asking," Fred said.

"Boy, boys," Mr. Weasley chided gently. "Now, what to do…yes, I suppose it's the only way. Harry, Leila, stand back."

Harry and Leila both quickly retreated behind the sofa when Uncle Vernon moved closer from the hall and into the living room. He bellowed something, but before he could finish, there was a loud explosion. The electric fireplace, boards, and pictures of Dudley flew across the room. After the dust settled, Mr. Weasley, Fred, George, and Ron were visible standing in a pile of the rubble from the explosion. All four of them grinned at Harry and Leila, but Aunt Petunia screamed at the top of her lungs causing her to trip over the coffee table. Uncle Vernon didn't have to waddle far to catch his wife before she landed in a pile of rubble on the floor.

"There we go," Mr. Weasley said as he slapped his hands together to get the dust off them. "Ah, well, you must be Harry and Leila's aunt and uncle."

Mr. Weasley stepped toward Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia with his hand outstretched, but Uncle Vernon sneered and backed away. With his arms wrapped around Aunt Petunia, he dragged her back with him. His best suit was covered in dust and his living room was trashed. Aunt Petunia reached down and grabbed a photograph of Dudley. She started to fret over the picture and Uncle Vernon narrowed his eyes at Mr. Weasley.

"Erm—yes, sorry about that," Mr. Weasley said as he lowered his hand. "I'll have it fixed in a jiffy once we send the boys and Leila back through it."

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia simply blinked at Mr. Weasley, too awestruck to say anything. Aunt Petunia moved to stand behind Uncle Vernon and cowered. Leila shrugged her shoulders and walked over to Fred and hugged him despite him being covered in dust. He grinned as she then walked over to George and hugged him. Leila moved to hug Ron, but he awkwardly shifted, said "hey," and walked over to stand by Harry.

"That was odd," Leila muttered.

"Ron's been acting sort of odd lately," George said.

"Especially when your name is brought up," Fred finished.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Leila retorted.

"Harry, Leila, have you two got your trunks ready?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Upstairs," Harry answered for the both of them.

"We'll get them," Fred responded with a wink.

"I'll go with you," Leila said quickly.

Fred and George quickly left the room, knowing exactly where to go because they had flown the old Ford Anglia to help Harry and Leila escape the Dursleys the summer before second year. Leila quickly followed after the Weasley twins not wanting to be left in an awkward situation with Harry, Ron, Mr. Weasley, and the Dursleys. When she was up the stairs, she heard the Weasley twins rummaging through Dudley's room. She stood in the doorway staring at the twins with her arms folded across her chest.

"Are you sure you know where our room is?" Leila asked.

"Of course," George answered.

"We just got…side-tracked," Fred continued.

"What are you two planning?" Leila questioned.

"Georgie, I think we ought to be offended," Fred said, feigning hurt.

"Us, planning something? Leila, I thought you knew us better than that," George responded.

"Such accusations," Fred grinned.

"So you're not going to tell me?" Leila furthered.

"Didn't say that," Fred said.

"Then what are you going to do?" Leila asked.

"You'll see," George smiled.

Leila rolled her eyes and shook her head at the twins as they continued to examine Dudley's room. Fred picked up one of the controllers to one of Dudley's video game consoles while George moved to Dudley's computer. Leila walked further inside Dudley's room and picked up one of the books Dudley just tossed aside. One thing was certain about the mess that was Dudley's room, he was a spoiled child.

"How've the Muggles been treating you, Leila?" Fred asked.

"Same as usual, I suppose," Leila said shrugging her shoulders.

"So what's this diet thing we've been hearing about?" Fred asked.

"As you can see for yourself, Dudley's has what the Muggle doctors like to call 'a bit of a weight problem,'" Leila began.

"He could give Hagrid a run for his money," George joked.

"Well anyway, he's had to cut back on what he eats, so we've all been forced to…only, I don't think anyone's been strictly following it," Leila continued. "I saw Uncle Vernon pull a chocolate bar out of his briefcase the other day, Harry and I have been getting food from all over, and I may have been sneaking Dudley anything Malfoy's sent me."

"How'd Malfoy find out?" Fred asked.

"Daphne, I presume," Leila answered.

"You and your snakes," George teased.

"If I could get rid of Malfoy, I gladly would," Leila responded.

"We could take care of him for you," Fred stated.

"I'll keep that in mind," Leila grinned.

"Sh! You hear that?" George interrupted

The conversation stopped and they stood there silently listening for whatever George had heard. The sound of footsteps pounding up the stairs caused Leila, Fred, and George to quickly emerge from Dudley's room and run across the hall to the room Harry and Leila normally occupied. Leila scrambled up onto her bed, Fred sat on the desk chair, and George leaned against the wardrobe. In the doorway, Ron appeared with a slightly confused look on his face.

"What's taking so bloody long?" Ron asked.

"Is that any way to talk in front of the lady, Ronald?" Fred teased.

Ron looked up at Leila and a heated blush crept onto his cheeks as he spluttered to find words to say. Leila looked to Fred and rolled her eyes.

"It's not like I haven't heard him say _bloody_ before," Leila groaned.

"Isn't there something you need to tell, Leila?" George grinned.

"Better do it before we do," Fred furthered.

"You promised you wouldn't say anything!" Ron hissed.

"What's going on here?" Leila asked.

"Well, since Ron won't do it…" Fred began.

"We'll do it for him," George finished.

"Don't you dare," Ron said coldly.

"What Ron's been meaning to tell you…" George began.

"GEORGE!" Ron roared.

"Is that he's sorry…" Fred continued.

"For using such foul language," George finished.

"You two are bloody gits, you know that?" Ron snapped.

"I think that deserves another one, what about you Georgie?" Fred asked.

"I think you're right, Freddie," George responded.

"Sorry, Leila," Ron muttered.

"Honestly, its fine," Leila mumbled.

"Why are you even up here, Ron?" George asked.

"Dad wanted me to see what was holding you lot up," Ron explained.

"Harry's still down there, right?" Leila asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, why?' Ron asked.

"Because we should probably get down there before Harry comes up to get us, leaving your Dad down there alone with the Dursleys. That wouldn't end well for anyone involved," Leila said.

"All right, well you two head on down and George and I will get these," Fred said pointing to the trunks.

"I can take a trunk," Ron complained.

"This ought to be good," George chuckled.

"Which one's yours?" Ron asked Leila.

Leila pointed over to her trunk in the corner with Harry's dirty sock still draped over it. Ron walked over to the trunk and picked up the dirty sock and tossed it under the bunk bed before he rubbed his hands together in anticipation for hard work. He then yanked at the handle but it didn't budge. Fred and George laughed at their brother before he shot them a look of disgust. Leila offered to help Ron with the trunk, but he only waved her off. Ron attempted to move her trunk again and this time he was successful. It was obvious that Ron was struggling with the trunk, but he dragged it out of the room. Fred and George both carried Harry's trunk down and Leila slung her book bag over her shoulder and carried Hedwig's empty cage. The twins were stopped in the hall as they waited for Ron to maneuver the trunk down the stairs.

"Impressive Ron," George teased.

"Shut it," Ron growled.

"Don't you think Ron's quite impressive, Leila?" Fred asked her.

"I'm not answering that," Leila said rolling her eyes.

Fred winked at her as he and George started down the stairs. Leila stood at the top of the stairs watching Ron struggle down the stairs in front of the twins.

"Hurry up, Ron," George called.

"I'm trying. What do you have in here, Leila? Bricks?" Ron groaned.

"Clothes, books," Leila said.

"Then what's a book bag for?" Ron muttered.

"Other things," Leila shrugged.

"Doesn't that defeat the purpose then of a _book_ bag?' Ron asked.

"Oh forget it," Leila groaned.

Leila pushed past Fred and George down the stairs. Several steps from the bottom, she reached for the handle on the other side of her trunk with her free hand and picked up her end of the trunk. Ron nodded his head in appreciation as they finished going down the stairs and walked through the hall and into the living room where Mr. Weasley was attempting to draw a cowering Dudley into a conversation. A snicker escaped Leila's lips, but she quickly bit her bottom lip down to prevent more from slipping out. The situation looked awkward to say the least, but Harry could help but look happy despite the situation because they were leaving Number Four Privet Drive and they wouldn't be back until next summer at the soonest. When the Weasley twins entered the room, they stood near Dudley with grins on their faces.

"All right, better get cracking then," Mr. Weasley said.

Mr. Weasley pulled his wand out and pointed it at the hole in the wall where the fireplace had once been. With a simple spell, flames flickered in the fireplace as Mr. Weasley took a small pouch out of his pocket. He took a pinch of powder, which Leila assumed was Floo Powder, and firmly threw it into the flames, which then flickered into an emerald green. After a nod of his head, the eldest Weasley turned around to face the teenagers.

"Fred, you first," Mr. Weasley commanded.

"Coming," Fred said taking a step forward. "Oh no—hang on—"

Something tumbled out of Fred's pocket, they were sweets which looked like toffees. Fred quickly scrambled to pick up his pocket's contents, but Leila didn't miss the slight grin on George's face. When Fred finally stood up and headed over to the fireplace. He grabbed Hedwig's cage from Leila with one hand and with his other hand, he gave a cheerful wave to the Weasleys before saying "The Burrow" and he was gone. Aunt Petunia clung to Uncle Vernon, trembling a little but Mr. Weasley was trying to keep them moving along and he called George over to the fireplace. Harry helped George move his trunk into the fireplace with him before stepping back. With a quick wink at Leila, George said the words "The Burrow" and with a whoosh, he too was gone.

"Ron, you next," Mr. Weasley said.

"Are you sure you can get it?" Leila asked referring to her trunk.

"Of course," Ron grunted.

Ron grabbed hold of the handle of Leila's trunk which Harry also helped him drag over to the fireplace. Ron smiled at the Dursleys who looked almost insulted by the gesture, before he looked to Leila and Harry and grinned. He then shouted "The Burrow" and Ron too disappeared from Number Four Privet Drive. With a smile Mr. Weasley looked to Leila.

"Ladies first, Leila," Mr. Weasley said sweetly.

Leila nodded her head and turned to her Muggle family.

"I suppose this goodbye for now, then. So goodbye," Leila said.

The Dursleys just stood there, which caused Leila to roll her eyes. She turned around on her heel to head for the fireplace, but Mr. Weasley stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Leila just said goodbye to you," Mr. Weasley restated for the Dursleys.

"Don't worry, I can tell that they'll miss me. Especially, Dudley," Leila smirked.

"That was you?" Dudley gasped.

"Who else would it be?" Leila chuckled.

"What's she talking about Dudders?" Aunt Petunia asked.

"Think about it Dudley, you owe me," Leila said.

"Dudders?" Aunt Petunia asked again.

"It's nothing, nothing at all," Dudley muttered.

"Good choice. I'm just going to be going then," Leila responded.

"No, wait. You're not even going to say goodbye to your niece?" Mr. Weasley furthered.

Uncle Vernon looked to Mr. Weasley who still had his wand in his hand and narrowed his eyes.

"I will not be intimidated in my own house," Uncle Vernon blubbered.

"Vernon," Aunt Petunia said lightly before shifting uncomfortably.

"But…" Uncle Vernon began.

"Goodbye, Leila." Aunt Petunia interrupted.

"That's more than I was expecting, so, I'll be seeing you then," Leila responded.

Aunt Petunia nodded stiffly at Leila before her niece stepped into the fireplace.

"Hope it goes better for you," Leila whispered to Harry.

"Doubt it, they like you better," Harry whispered back.

"Only ever so slightly and that's because I don't intentionally piss them off," Leila said.

"I don't do it on purpose," Harry hissed.

"You can't fool me, Harry Potter," Leila chuckled.

"Fine, it's on purpose some of the time," Harry conceded.

"I'll accept that answer," Leila grinned.

With that, Leila shouted the words "The Burrow" and she disappeared from Number Four Privet Drive. On the other side she came out at the Weasleys home: The Burrow. She landed with a thud on her bottom in the fireplace and Fred instantly offered her a hand to help her out. Fred was grinning from ear to ear which confused Leila, but she dusted the soot from her clothes.

"Did he eat it?" Fred asked.

"Did who eat what?" Leila asked.

"Never mind then," Fred sighed.

"You gave Dudley something, didn't you?" Leila questioned.

"We didn't think it was fair that you could be the only one to feed him," George grinned.

"What was it? A Cockroach Cluster? Licorice Snap?" Leila asked.

"Nope, it was our own invention," Fred chuckled.

"I've only been giving him Pumpkin Pasties and Chocolate Frogs once the charm has worn off," Leila groaned.

"Well this one we like to call a Ton-Tongue Toffee," George smiled proudly.

"What does it do exactly?" Leila asked hesitantly.

"Let's see if Harry can tell us," Fred said.

"It's taking him an awfully long time to get here," Leila commented.

"So then one can only hope what is holding him up," Fred said rubbing his hands together.

"Now I'm not so sure I want to know," Leila said.

Suddenly, Leila was practically tackled off her feet by a whir of ginger hair. Leila chuckled knowing that the person who tackled her was one of her dear friends: Ginny Weasley. She hugged her friend back and when they released, she noticed two older ginger boys sitting at the table. Without even being formally introduced, Leila knew that the two boys were Bill and Charlie, the eldest of the Weasley siblings.

Leila walked over to the boys to introduce herself but one of the boys grabbed her hand first and grinned.

"You must be…" Leila began.

"Charlie, sorry. I should've said something first," Charlie laughed.

Leila then turned to the other older Weasley brother.

"That must make you, Bill," Leila smiled holding her hand out to him.

"Ron did mention that you were smart," Bill chuckled.

"What else did he say about me?" Leila asked hesitantly.

"All good things don't worry," Bill grinned.

She inhaled deeply. Even though Harry wasn't here yet, this was home. The Weasleys always welcomed her and her brother into their home and she wouldn't have it any other way; even if Fred and George gave her a lot of grief over being in Slytherin. These people were more her family than her own blood-related Muggles. She didn't voice her appreciation out-loud very often and especially not at Hogwarts, because most people in her House didn't like the Weasleys. They looked down on them as blood-traitors, but not Leila. Even though she was silent about it, she looked to these people as her family.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Leila took a seat at the Weasley's large kitchen table right before Harry came crashing through the fireplace landing face first onto the hardwood floor. Harry's glasses had cracked once again from the force of his landing, but he couldn't do anything to fix them because Fred and George instantly bombarded him with questions before they even helped him to his feet. Fred removed Harry's glasses from his face and tossed them over to Bill to fix while Leila reached for one of the homemade Pumpkin Pasties Mrs. Weasley had placed on the table as Ron sat next to her with a blush creeping onto his face. Leila took a bite before she turned to listen as Fred explained about the candy they had left for Dudley. Her cousin's tongue had drastically increased in size because of the candy, which was what now was keeping Mr. Weasley from returning promptly. Apparently, Fred and George had been inventing joke and trick products all summer and Dudley just happened to be one of their unknowing test-subjects.

"I practically trained him all summer for you," Leila chuckled.

"Precisely, when you said that you'd been feeding your cousin I knew he'd go for the bait," Fred grinned.

The room burst into laughter as Bill attempted to hand Harry his repaired glasses. Leila took another large bite of a Pumpkin Pasty when there was a popping noise. Suddenly, Mr. Weasley appeared behind George's shoulder. George looked over his shoulder and jumped a bit at the sight of his father. Mr. Weasley looked angrier than she had ever seen him before and the sight of his anger was enough to make George jump. Fred on the other hand looked calm, cool, and collected as Mr. Weasley marched across the kitchen toward the twin who had caused all of the ruckus as the Dursleys.

"That _wasn't_ funny Fred!" Mr. Weasley roared. "What the devil did you give him?"

"I didn't _give_ him anything," Fred retorted with an evil grin slowly spreading over his face. "I just _dropped_ it. I couldn't help it that he lunged for it. I never told him to. You were there. Did you hear me say anything about it to him?"

"You dropped it on purpose!" Mr. Weasely roared. "You knew the second you dropped it that he'd devour it. You knew that he was on a diet…"

"He is right about that last part," Leila retorted.

"You're not helping," Fred hissed at Leila.

"Don't yell at her!" Ron said jumping to his feet.

"You stay out of this," Fred hissed at Ron. "Don't think I don't know why…"

"Fred don't yell at Ron!" Mr. Weasley shouted. "This isn't about Ron. This is about you and what you did to that poor Muggle boy."

"Dudley is hardly anything to be pitied," Leila commented.

"See even Leila agrees the git deserved it," Fred argued.

"You had no right…" Mr. Weasley began.

"Speaking of him, how big did his tongue get?" George asked.

"It was over four feet long before his parents would let me anywhere near him," Mr. Weasley answered.

Leila, Harry, and the Weasleys in the room (except for Mr. Weasley who was still seething) burst into laughter. Leila tried to imagine Dudley's tongue being over four feet long which caused her to laugh at the mental picture in her head. A tongue like that could come in handy for Dudley to get more food. Maybe he'd even be able to snatch food like a frog snatches flies; but alas, a tongue like that would ruin the Dursleys "normal" image. But it would've gone rather nicely with the pig tail Dudley had once sported. If Dudley didn't annoy Leila so much, she might feel a little worse that he always seemed to be on the receiving end of unwarranted human Transfiguration. The laughter did nothing to ease Mr. Weasley's anger.

"It isn't funny!" Mr. Weasley shouted. "This is the exact sort of behavior that seriously undermines wizard and Muggle relations. I've spent half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles and then to think my own son…"

"We didn't give it to him because he was a Muggle," Fred responded.

"We gave it to him because he's a big, fat, bullying git," George finished. "You can ask Harry or Leila to go into detail if you like."

"Yeah, he is, Mr. Weasley," Harry answered.

"And it's not like Harry and I can do anything to properly get our revenge," Leila furthered.

"See?" Fred retorted.

"That's not the point!" Mr. Weasley raged. "You wait until I tell your mother…"

Just at that moment, Mrs. Weasley walked into the room where they were all gathered.

"Tell me what?' Mrs. Weasley asked suspiciously.

But then she spotted Harry and Leila. Mrs. Weasley smiled and walked over to Harry. She hugged him and then walked over to Leila before she hugged the teenage witch as well. Mr. Weasley thought he was off the hook; but Mrs. Weasley didn't forget what they had been talking about. She repeated her question once more. Mr. Weasley hesitated as he pulled at the collar of his shirt. Leila could tell that Mr. Weasley had actually had no intention of dragging Mrs. Weasley into this. It was supposed to be an empty threat.

"Tell me _what_ Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley repeated again in a dangerous tone.

"It's really nothing, Molly," Mr. Weasley mumbled. "Fred and George…well..erm…I've had my words with them…"

"What have they done this time?" Mrs. Weasley groaned. "If it's got anything to do with that Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes…"

"Ron, why don't you show Harry where he's sleeping?" Hermione Granger suggested.

Leila looked over to the doorway and rolled her eyes at the sight of Hermione Granger. She had almost forgotten that the annoying know-it-all girl was supposed to be here. That girl was always ruining everything for her. She wished Harry and Ron hadn't befriended the girl first year. They were doing fine without her. Well, at the time Ron still wasn't too sure about Leila herself; but still, Leila absolutely loathed Hermione Granger. She probably hated her more than she hated Draco Malfoy and that was saying a lot. Leila looked over to Ron who looked confusedly over to Granger who repeated herself to Ron.

"Show Harry where he's sleeping," Granger said through gritted teeth.

"He already knows where he's sleeping, Hermione," Ron said. "In my room, like the last…"

"We can all go," Hermione said. "Leila too."

"Hey, I don't need you telling me what to do," Leila snapped.

"Just c'mon, Leila," Ron stated.

Ron wrapped his hand around Leila's arm and began to drag her from the kitchen table where she had been sitting devouring Pumpkin Pasties. Leila turned around and looked at the Weasley twins. They looked to each other before they both took a step toward Leila and Ron.

"Right behind you," George called.

"You two stay right where you are!" Mrs. Weasley snarled.

Both Fred and George froze in place. If there was one person they were even slightly terrified of, it was their mother. Leila turned around to see the slightly worried looks on their faces.

"Good luck," Leila called.

Fred and George each gave Leila half-smiles before she was pulled around the corner toward the stairs. Leila groaned as she tried to push Ron's hand from her arm. Ron stopped on one of the stairs and turned around to look at Leila who stood there with her hands on her hips.

"I'm more than capable of walking on my own, thank you very much," Leila retorted.

"Sorry," Ron muttered.

"Do I have to share a room with Granger again?" Leila questioned.

"I think you already know the answer to that question," Ron said hesitantly.

"I think I'd much rather share a room with Percy," Leila muttered.

"Why do you fancy him or something?" Ron questioned with his face flaming red.

"That's disgusting. Percy's a prat; but he's far more tolerable than Granger," Leila retorted.

"Oh yeah, well you only say that because you haven't lived with him for years," Ron responded with a sigh of relief.

"And you haven't shared a room with Granger," Leila quipped.

"Besides, Percy's been a pain in everyone's arse this summer with his new job and all. You might not even be able to tolerate him," Ron furthered.

"Merlin's beard, I wasn't actually serious about bunking with Percy. I was just reiterating how much I hate Granger," Leila groaned.

"Oh," Ron said. "Well, maybe you and I can play some Quidditch sometime."

"Sure," Leila shrugged.

Ron beamed with a huge grin on his face. Leila hadn't really thought that playing Quidditch with him was that big of a deal, but then again, she didn't know Ron's personal motivations. They then continued up the stairs until they caught up with Harry, Hermione, and Ginny who were discussing Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, the new business for the joke stuff they had invented. Ginny had mentioned something about it to Leila in one of her letters. While Mrs. Weasley was quite upset that the boys didn't score more O.W.L.s, Leila didn't really think it mattered. Fred and George were already brilliant wizards. The fact that they had already invented this stuff proved that. Of course, from what Ginny explained, Mrs. Weasley wanted the twins to have proper jobs at the Ministry like their father and older brother Percy. But knowing the twins, they didn't want anything to do with the Ministry unless it involved them getting a joke shop up and running.

Just then, a door on the second landing opened. Ron and Leila were still on the landing while Harry, Hermione, and Ginny had stopped on the next flight of stairs. The door opened to reveal an annoyed looking Percy. Of all the Weasleys, Percy had always been her least favorite, even though she had only officially met Bill and Charlie not even a half hour ago. Percy always played things by the rules, which Leila sometimes had a habit of breaking. Granted, most of her rule breaking was Harry's fault; but still, Percy was an annoying git. He always tried to tell her what to do and he didn't hide the fact that he knew he was smarter than her. Well of course he was, he had how many years of schooling on her? But the biggest reason Leila didn't like Percy, much, was because he couldn't take a joke. She didn't even know if there was a funny bone in his body, which one would find surprising considering he was related to Fred and George. But when it came down to it, she definitely preferred Percy over Granger, unless the two of them were in a conversation together then hell, she might even prefer Draco Malfoy over the two of them together.

"Leila, Ron, so it was you two," Percy began. "I was wondering who it was thundering up the stairs and shrieking like banshees…"

"We weren't thundering," Ron said irritably.

"Or shrieking for that matter," Leila retorted.

But Percy wasn't allowing them to distract him from the speech he had probably already prepared in his head.

"I'm trying to work here, you know—I've got a report to finish for the office—and it's rather difficult to concentrate when people keep thundering up and down the stairs, shrieking like banshees," Percy said.

"Well then get your facts straight before jumping down people's throats. Leila and I just got up here. But Harry, Ginny, and Hermione are the ones who have been stopped here talking. Why don't you annoy them with your…" Ron began.

"Ron," Leila groaned.

"I'll have you know, Ron, that I'm dealing with an important report for the Department of International Magical Cooperation," Percy began. "It's a rather important job trying to standardize cauldron thickness. Some of these foreign imports are just a shade too thin—leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost three percent a year—"

"That'll chance the world, that report will," Ron scoffed. "Front page of the _Daily Prophet_, I expect, cauldron leaks."

"You might sneer Ron," Percy said heatedly. "but unless some sort of international law is imposed we might find the market flooded with flimsy, shallow-bottomed products that seriously endanger…"

"Thanks for the Potions lesson Percy, but…" Leila began.

"We're leaving," Ron finished.

"Honestly, did you two have to be so rude?" Granger questioned.

Hermione Granger walked down to the landing and stared at Leila and Ron with an accusing glance. Leila narrowed her eyes at Hermione and was about to come up with some witty retort; but Ron beat her to it.

"Come off it Hermione, he was blaming us for something you lot did," Ron groaned.

"I'm right here, you know," Percy hissed. "I can hear you.'

"Didn't seem to hear me so well the first time; I told you it wasn't me and Leila and you go off about some bloody cauldron report," Ron shot back.

"Mind your attitude, Ron," Percy sneered.

"Yeah, yeah, all right," Ron said.

Ron rolled his eyes and pushed past Hermione, headed straight for the stairs. Percy angrily slammed his bedroom door shut causing Leila to jump. Leila then turned to head back down the stairs when Ron called to her; but Leila didn't want to spend any more time with Hermione Granger than she had to. The fight with Percy had made enough of a distraction for her to get out of doing just that. So she decided to head back down to Ginny's room to avoid spending time with the annoying Gryffindor girl. Leila missed the look of disappointment on Ron's face as she headed back down the stairs. She walked down one flight of stairs and into Ginny's room. Leila threw herself on the bed in front of the window which her book bag had been placed on. Leila was relaxed on the bed when she saw Fred and George coming up the stairs. Fred noticed Leila lying on the bed and pointed at her before he and George walked in to Ginny's room. Fred and George plopped on to Ginny's bed which stood perpendicular to the bed Leila was on.

"So what's the damage?" Leila chuckled.

"Got the old 'we expect better' speech," Fred shrugged.

"And the 'why can't you be like your brothers?' speech," George continued.

"Nothing we haven't heard before," Fred said.

"I'm surprised you two are even walking properly," Leila chuckled.

"Oh she thought of it; but she knew it wouldn't have the same effect it did when we were younger," George responded.

"Although my left buttock has never been the same since I tried to get Ron to make an Unbreakable Vow," Fred added.

"You did what?" Leila gasped.

"Nothing," Fred answered.

"Yes you did! You said…" Leila began.

"I don't know what she's talking about. Do you Georgie?" Fred interrupted.

"No idea, Freddie," George grinned.

"You're both prats," Leila chuckled.

"But you love us anyway," George grinned.

"You keep telling yourselves that," Leila retorted.

"That hurts, Leila; right here, in the heart," Fred said feigning hurt.

"It was supposed to," Leila quipped.

Leila stood up with a smirk on her face when Fred lunged for her book bag. Leila's eyes widened as Fred started to dig through her bag. She lunged for the bag as well. The letters Cedric had written her were shoved in that bag. If Fred and George found out, she'd never hear the end of it. She attempted to pull the bag from Fred's grasp; but her reaction only made Fred cling tighter to the bag.

"Give that to me," Leila hissed.

"What are you hiding, Leila?" Fred questioned.

"Nothing, just give me back my bloody bag," Leila added.

Fred looked at Leila suspiciously as he pulled the bag farther from Leila. Leila continued to fight him for the bag when a grin spread over Fred's face. He suddenly released the bag; but Leila had been pulling so hard on the bag that she went flying backward with the bag. The contents of the bag spilled out and onto the floor. Leila quickly tried to pick up all of Cedric's letters as fast as she could; but George snatched one right before her hand reached for it. Leila then clung to George's hand which held the letter. George tried to shake Leila off him; but she just clung tighter to his arm which caused him to chuckle.

"Please don't read it," Leila begged.

"_I _won't read it," George said.

"Thank you," Leila sighed.

"But that doesn't mean I won't," Fred said.

Fred took the letter right out of George's hand and opened it. Leila screamed and tried to make a run out of the room but George caught her. He wrapped his arms around her midsection from behind, trapping her. He turned her so that they were both facing Fred who began to read the letter aloud. Leila tried to talk over Fred's voice; but the words he read still carried over Leila's noise.

"Dear Leila," Fred read. "I hope your summer is going well. Mine has been rather dull so far; helping Mum with chores and keeping up with my studies. The only excitement seems to come from Quidditch these days as teams battle for a spot in the World Cup. Father seems pretty confident that he'll be able to get us tickets seeing as he's with the Ministry and all…"

"How boring," George commented. "I was hoping for something more exciting. But this is Diggory we're talking about."

"How can you even converse with him?" Fred questioned.

"The same way your converse with your friends," Leila retorted.

"He's so dull," Fred scoffed.

"He's my friend," Leila furthered.

"Even after what he did to your brother last year?" Fred questioned.

"He didn't know about the bloody dementors which he's even apologized for, multiple times might I add," Leila said.

"Awfully quick to defend him," George stated.

"He's my friend," Leila repeated.

"So you've said; but I don't think it's us you're trying to convince," Fred said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Leila questioned.

"Well…" George began.

"What's going on in here?" Ginny questioned.

Leila turned her head in an attempt to look back at the door where Ginny stood alone with her arms folded across her chest. George released his grip on Leila, which caused her to fall face first onto the floor. Luckily, the carpet that was in the center of the room somewhat broke her fall. Leila groaned on the floor as Ginny began to interrogate Fred and George who tried to escape; but Ginny blocked their exit. Ginny glared at her older brothers.

"Nothing is going on, Ginny," George answered.

"Isn't that right, Leila?" Fred continued.

By this point Leila was upright once more and her arms were folded across her chest.

"Wrong answer," Ginny said. "Mum!"

"You wouldn't," Fred hissed.

"Mum!" Ginny called again.

"Bloody hell, we were only funning around," George said.

"Is that how you see it, Leila?" Ginny asked.

"I could; but I'll need to be persuaded," Leila said coyly.

"What do you want?" George asked.

"Apologize and leave me alone about Cedric," Leila said.

"Ginny dear, what is it?" Mrs. Weasley called from downstairs.

"Sorry," Fred muttered.

"Sorry," George muttered too.

"But we can't make any promises about that latter request," Fred said.

Leila cocked an eyebrow before she grinned as footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs.

"I figured that. That's why I asked you for something I knew you wouldn't do so that you'd do what I actually wanted you to do right away," Leila chuckled.

"Damn, she's good," George muttered.

"Cunning, must be the Slytherin in her," Fred commented.

"I'm not evil," Leila said coldly.

"Never said you were," Fred said.

"He was just saying that you had a trait of your House. It's not a bad thing," Ginny added.

"What she said. Like Diggory, he's dull which is clearly a Hufflepuff trait," Fred said.

"And being a prat must be a Gryffindor trait," Leila retorted.

Suddenly, Mrs. Weasley stood in the doorway and the second she noticed Fred and George she slightly narrowed her eyes. Leila could help but smirk at Fred and George's expense. They do say what comes around goes around. Mrs. Weasley placed her hands on her hips and walked closer toward Fred and George.

"What did you two do _now_?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Why does she always assume it's us?" George asked looking to Fred.

"Because it usually is," Ginny quipped.

"Ginny, what did you want dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked slightly out of breath.

"I couldn't find my jumper," Ginny lied.

"Nothing to do with Fred or George," Leila continued.

"Cross our hearts," Fred added as he cross his heart.

"Did you find it?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Find what?" Ginny asked.

"Your jumper, dear," Mrs. Weasley furthered.

"Oh that; yeah, it was under my bed," Ginny lied again.

"Very well then; why don't you four come on downstairs and help get things ready for dinner," Mrs. Weasley said.

Mrs. Weasley smiled at them until they walked out of Ginny's room and headed downstairs. Once they reached the kitchen, they could see Bill and Charlie outside in the garden. They looked to be plotting something or another. Or at least, their facial expressions look very similar to what Fred and George looked like when they were plotting mayhem. Mrs. Weasley told Ginny and Leila to set the tables one Bill and Charlie had them set up. To the twins, she told them stay out of trouble; which was easier said than done for those two. As Ginny and Leila left the house with their arms loaded with dishes and cutlery, Fred and George trailed behind them when two tables flew into the air.

"Brilliant," Fred said.

"What are they doing?" Leila asked.

"You'll see," Ginny grinned.

Suddenly, the two tables flew at each other and smacked together with a loud crash. Leila jumped in surprise, almost dropping the plates she was holding. Fred and George cheered as the tables went crashing toward each other once more. Bill and Charlie were trying to knock the other's table out of the air. Just when they walked into the garden, the table Bill was controlling fell to the ground. Charlie ran over laughing and patted Bill on the back; but Bill only grinned at his brother as he repaired the broken leg on his table telling his brother that he was ready for round two. Charlie laughed heartily as both brothers levitated their tables into the air once more.

"Bill will get him this time," George said.

"I take it this isn't the first time they've done this?" Leila asked.

"It's been a tradition for the past few summers when we're all together. Last summer before we went to Egypt even Dad and Percy joined in," Ginny laughed.

"Percy? As in your brother Percy?" Leila questioned.

"Fred or George probably put something in his pumpkin juice that day," Ginny answered.

"We didn't; but thanks for the idea," Fred grinned.

Fred and George ran past them to be closer to the action.

"Five Sickles on Bill," George said.

"You're on; my money's on Charlie," Fred responded.

"Boys," Ginny said.

"Looks like even Harry and Ron couldn't stay away," Leila grinned.

Harry and Ron came running from the house with Granger slowly trailing behind. Leila looked to Ginny whose face was flushed from Leila's mention of Harry. Leila knew that her friend had fancied her brother since before they even met. Leila tried to ignore it. Sometimes Ginny got the idea in her head that she was going to marry Harry and that Leila was going to marry one of the Weasley brothers. Often times, Ginny couldn't settle on a brother; so it switched from time to time at first it was Ron, then it was George, Fred for a while, even Charlie had been brought up once. Leila wasn't sure which brother Ginny was currently marrying her off to; but the only brother that had never made Ginny's predictions was Percy. This was probably because none of the Weasleys wanted to subject him and his annoyingness on anyone.

Ron and Harry caught up to them and cheered Charlie and Bill on right alongside Fred and George. Ginny and Leila sat down on a bench in the garden, setting the dishes and cutlery beside them. When Granger finally got to the garden, she stood by the hedge. It was clear that she was torn between enjoying herself or yelling at them for lack of maturity using their magic. Knowing Granger though, she was probably leaning more toward the latter. Bill's table caught Charlie's, causing a table leg to fall off the younger brother's table. The table leg stuck straight out of the ground, which caused them to laught; well most of them anyway. As they laughed, a loud clatter was heard from overhead which caught all their attention. An ornery looking Percy stuck his head out of his second floor bedroom window.

"Will you keep it down!" Percy bellowed.

"Sorry, Perce!"Bill shouted. "How're the cauldron bottoms going?"

"Don't get him started," Ron groaned.

"Very badly," Percy hissed. "And I heard that Ron!"

Percy then slammed his window shut. Bill and Charlie safely placed the tables on the grass end to end as they chuckled at something or another. With a flick of Charlie's wand table cloths appeared on the tables and with a flick of Bill's wand, the table leg was repaired. Ron muttered to Harry about how annoying Percy had been to deal with this summer while Leila and Ginny began to set the table.

"Can I help?" Hermione asked.

"I am capable of setting a table, Granger," Leila retorted.

"Oh shut it, Leila. Hermione can help if she wants to," Ginny said.

Hermione reached for a plate and placed it in its proper place. Leila rolled her eyes at Hermione Granger. Her hatred for the girl stemmed all the way back to first year.

**~*Flashback to 1****st**** year*~**

_Leila timidly followed Harry and his new friend Ron from the Hogwarts Express. They walked down a beaten path following Hagrid, until they came to some body of water. In the water floated many boats, but what most of the other first years noticed was their first view of Hogwarts. The boys and girls "ooh'ed ahh'ed" including, Harry, Leila, and Ron. Leila clung to Harry's arm, but he was slightly embarrassed by his sister's clinging so he ripped his arm from her grip. They continued to walk, but Leila fell behind Harry. She began to run to catch-up to him, but she tripped over a root that was uncovered from the earth. She fell face first into the dirt, but Harry didn't seem to notice her fall. Leila was about to stand up, when someone stepped over her._

_ "Excuse me," the bossy girl from the train said._

_Leila sneered as the girl known as Hermione Granger walked away from her without helping her up after stepping over her. Leila couldn't believe the nerve of that girl. She didn't even have the decency to help her up. She decided that once she learned a decent spell, she was going to have to get some payback with that Granger girl._

_ "Need some help?" a boy asked._

_ "Yes, please," Leila said taking the boys hand. "Thank you…"_

_ "I'm Neville. So, is what that Granger girl said true then?" the boy asked._

_ "What did _she_ say?" Leila groaned._

_ "Are—are you r—really Leila P—Potter?" the boy stuttered._

_ "Oh that, yeah, I am," Leila shrugged._

"_I can hardly believe I'm actually talking with Leila Potter. I mean Gran said…" the boy said excitedly before suddenly stopping. "I—I hope we're in the same House."_

"_As long as I'm not in the same House as that Granger girl," Leila muttered._

_The boy blushed furiously, but Leila ignored it and continued to walk toward the boats. Neville followed after her. Neither said a word as they walked to where the other first years stood. Leila walked over to where her brother stood with that Ron kid as the Granger girl called Neville over to her boat. Leila rolled her eyes before she made a rude face at the girl. In that moment, Ron and Harry quickly got into a boat but were instantly followed by Hermione and Neville. Leila moved to step into the boat._

_ "No more'n four to a boat," Hagrid shouted._

_Leila continued to walk onto the boat that contained her brother, but Hermione Granger held out her hand which grasped Leila's shoulder._

_ "You heard that man, no more than four to a boat," Hermione said in a bossy tone._

_ "But my brother's in this boat," Leila whined._

_ "We need to follow the rules and the four of us were already in the boat," Hermione explained._

_ "Harry," Leila whined again._

_ "Sorry, Leila just go find another boat," Harry shrugged._

_With a pout on her face, Leila stomped away. She found an empty boat and plopped down onto the wooden bench._

**~* End Flashback *~**

When it was finally time for dinner the nine Weasleys, two Potters, and Granger sat at the table which was full of food. Harry and Leila's eyes instantly widened at all the food before them. Mrs. Weasley's cooking definitely beat stale birthday cakes. Leila helped herself to extra large helpings of food. Partly because she was _that_ hungry and partly because she knew if she didn't pile the food on, Mrs. Weasley would do it for her. Leila sat at one end of the table between Charlie and Ginny, across from Fred and George. She had purposely avoided the other end of the table because Percy and Granger were seated on that end; something she would never willingly subject herself to. Leila tried to ignore Percy; but it wasn't hard to miss his annoying voice. The only thing that made it tolerable was Fred imitating Percy in a mocking sense.

"I told Mr. Crouch I'd have it ready as soon as I get over my big head," Fred mocked.

George, Ginny, and Leila burst into laughter. Charlie attempted to hold his laughter in; but even he eventually gave in to it.

"I like to stay on top of things no matter how much of a git it makes me toward my family," Fred continued.

"George," Mrs. Weasley reprimanded, who was within earshot of the conversation.

"What'd I do?" George questioned.

"You know what you did, apologize," Mrs. Weasley commanded.

"Sorry for laughing at Fred," George said.

Mrs. Weasley groaned and threw her hands in the air. Fred looked over at his mother before he turned once more to George, Leila, and Ginny. He waited for the right moment of Percy's conversation to mock.

"Mr. Crouch this, Mr. Crouch that, I enjoy spending my day kissing Mr. Crouch's arse," Fred mocked.

"Fred Weasley, you stop that now or I'll wash that mouth of yours out with soap," Mrs. Weasley hissed.

"And she will too, even if you're out of Hogwarts," Charlie chuckled.

"Charlie got his mouth washed with soap last summer," Ginny grinned.

"You pick up some foul language working the job I do. Bill's mouth isn't much better, but he works a little harder to keep it clean around Mum," Charlie responded.

Percy started another rant about Mr. Crouch that the other end of the table couldn't ignore.

"Honestly, the way he goes on about Crouch I'd expect them to announce their engagement any day now," Fred groaned.

"Don't go giving him ideas," Ginny retorted.

"Scary," Leila shuddered. "I just imagined that."

"Honestly, if even Penelope Clearwater can't stand Percy anymore; I don't think we need to worry about him ever settling down," George said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Leila asked.

"Penelope broke up with Percy a couple of weeks ago. Sent him a Howler telling him he was an arrogant, pompous prat and that she wanted nothing to do with him," Ginny whispered.

"The Penelope Clearwater? One of the nicest girls…" Leila began.

"Oh yeah, it was great," Fred grinned.

"I wouldn't call it great, Fred," Charlie chuckled.

"What would you call it then?" Fred questioned.

Ginny, Fred, Leila, and George began to laugh as Charlie fumbled to come up with a response. Charlie smiled and shook his head. Leila looked down to the other end of the table where Mr. Weasley sat beside Percy rather uncomfortably. Mr. Weasley pulled at his collar in frustration. Of course Granger looked intrigued by whatever intense conversation the two of them were having. Honestly, Leila was surprised she hadn't heard Granger's voice pipe in on the conversation. Percy took a swig of his elderflower wine before he made eye contact with Leila. Leila tried to give him a half-smile, but he just seemed to continue with his rant.

"However, we've got enough on our plates at the Department of International Magical Cooperation without trying to find members of other departments too. As you know, we've got another big even to organize right after the World Cup," Percy said.

Percy cleared his throat and looked around the table to each of them who would be returning to Hogwarts this fall before continuing.

"_You_ know the one I'm talking about, Father," Percy said raising his voice. "The top-secret one."

Ron, who was sitting on the other side of Ginny, rolled his eyes and groaned at his brother's last statement.

"He's been trying to get us to ask what that event is since he started work. It's probably some bloody exhibition of thick-bottomed cauldrons," Ron groaned.

"I'll bet Snape has front row tickets to that," Leila joked.

"Maybe one of the cauldrons will have some shampoo in it for the git's greasy hair," Fred added.

Even Charlie couldn't help but laugh at that one. Granger bit back a smile, to which Leila rolled her eyes. The girl was so programmed she couldn't even laugh with the rest of them. It seemed like everything about Hermione Granger irked Leila; but yet, that girl was one of her brother's best friends. Leila was thankful when the conversation at their end of the table turned to the World Cup.

"Who do you think is going to win the Cup?" Ginny asked.

"It's got to be Ireland," Charlie said with a mouthful of mashed potatoes. "They flattened Peru in the semi-finals."

"But Bulgaria has got Viktor Krum," Fred added.

"Krum's one decent player, Ireland has got seven," Charlie said shortly.

"I wish England had got through," George said. "That was embarrassing, that was."

"What happened?" Leila and Harry asked simultaneously.

Both Leila and Harry blushed a slight pink and looked to each other after their question. Neither had really been able to keep up with the news from the Wizarding world being isolated on Privet Drive. Leila had heard a little from Cedric's letters; but he hadn't written much about England's loss. Probably because he was a little bitter about the loss. Charlie then chuckled at the twins before he answered their question.

"We went down to Transylvania, three hundred and ninety to ten," Charlie said gloomily. "Shocking performance. And then Wales lost to Uganda, and Scotland was slaughtered by Luxembourg."

"Not a good summer for us; but at least Ireland got through," George said.

Leila looked to her brother whose grin was just as wide as hers. If there was one thing the Potter twins had in common besides being related, it was their love for Quidditch. Harry had been Seeker for the Gryffindor House teams since first year; but Leila wasn't too far behind him. She was added to Slytherin's roster second year as a Chaser, the same position her father had played for the Gryffindor team. Even though they were on rival teams, it definitely made things easier that she and Harry weren't on the same position competing directly against each other. No, it was her Housemate Draco Malfoy that had the job of Seeker on the Slytherin team. While Leila didn't like losing to the Gryffindor team, at least it gave her an excuse to antagonize Malfoy when he lost against her brother. The other thing they both loved was their Firebolts. Last year, Harry's godfather Sirius Black, had gotten them both Firebolts, much to Leila's surprise. The man wasn't even her godfather but he still bought her a very expensive gift. Granted, she didn't need it with the Nimbus 2001's Mr. Malfoy had purchased for the Slytherin team second year; but she much preferred the Firebolt because it was a gift from the heart and not used as some sort of bribe. While Malfoy was a good Seeker, it was still pretty pathetic that his father had bought him his way onto the team.

Leila's stomach was already stuffed when Mr. Weasley conjured up floating candles so they could see their homemade strawberry ice cream. As much as Leila wanted to protest the ice cream she knew two things: 1. Mrs. Weasley would never allow her not to eat it and 2. No one says no to ice cream. So, Leila slowly savored the tasty treat before her. It was no surprise that the boys finished their ice cream before her. While Leila was still shoveling that ice cream into her mouth, Mrs. Weasley checked her wristwatch and gasped at the time.

"Goodness! Look at the time," Mrs. Weasley said. "You really should be in bed; the whole lot of you. You'll need to be up at the crack of dawn to make it to the Cup on time."

"So early," Leila groaned.

"Leila and Harry, dears, if you'll please both leave your school supply lists out; I'll get everything tomorrow in Diagon Alley. I'm getting everyone else's, so I'll do the same for you two. There might not be time after the World Cup. Last time, the match went on for five days," Mrs. Weasley said.

"I hope it does this time!" Harry grinned.

"I certainly hope not," Percy added. "I shudder to think what the state of my in-tray would be if I was away from work for five days."

"Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh, Perce?" Fred chuckled.

"That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!" Percy shouted with his face growing redder by the second. "It was nothing _personal!_"

Fred winked at Leila who shook her head. Leila started to walk beside Harry as they headed back toward the house when Fred wrapped his arms around their shoulders.

"It was personal," Fred grinned. "We sent it."

Leila gasped in surprise before she started to giggle. Leave it to Fred and George to send Percy something utterly disgusting and live to tell the tale. Fred unwrapped his arms from their shoulders and jogged a bit ahead to catch up with George, Bill, and Charlie. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny joined the Potter twins; but Ron nastily shooed Ginny away.

"Get lost, Ginny," Ron sneered.

Ginny looked to Ron with her face a bright red and rolled her eyes. Ginny then walked away from them. Feeling bad, for Ginny, Leila attempted to run to catch up with her friend.

"Not you, Leila," Ron groaned.

Leila turned to Ron and rolled her eyes before she ran to catch up with Ginny. While Ron was a good friend, he didn't often treat his sister the nicest. But the way Leila figured it, if Ginny was all he had left, much like she was to Harry, he'd treat her a little better. One thing she loved about the Weasleys was that they had a big family and one could always feel the love from this family. Leila wanted her own big family someday. She wanted plenty of kids running underfoot and that each one of them would know that despite all their shortcomings, they were loved. She wanted them to have the life and love that she had come to learn and love from the Weasleys; but this was only a dream. She still had to survive Hogwarts first.

Once they were inside the Burrow, Leila, Ginny, and Hermione made their way to Ginny's room. As Leila was about to dig for her pajamas in her trunk, she noticed an owl pecking at Ginny's window. Leila grinned as she opened the window. Granger screamed in horror because she was already changing; but Leila didn't care. She'd much rather get her much anticipated letter now than have to wait for Granger to be ready for bed. Leila untied the letter from the owl's foot with a grin she could hardly control on her face. She opened the letter. It only had a short message, but even the short words made her feel elated.

_See you tomorrow._

_~Ced_

Leila flung herself onto her bed and began to squeal and kick. Ginny and Granger looked to her. Ginny looked rather amused, while Granger looked rather annoyed.

"Who is it from?" Ginny asked.

"Cedric," Leila grinned. "We'll be seeing him tomorrow."

"You shouldn't waste your time," Granger said. "He's too old for you."

"I don't recall asking for your opinion, Granger," Leila retorted.

"Harry's not going to like this," Granger continued.

"Cedric's my friend. Harry has no say in whom I'm friends with seeing as he didn't listen to me to get rid of you," Leila said.

"I think that's enough arguing for tonight," Ginny groaned. "We have an early morning ahead of us."

Leila and Granger narrowed their eyes at each other for a moment before, Granger gave in and nodded her head at Ginny. Leila smirked at the fact she hadn't been the one to back down first. She didn't know why she got such a thrill out of antagonizing Granger, but she did. If she was going to be forced to spend time with the girl, she might as well have a little fun with her. Leila quickly changed into her pajamas and then rested her head down on the pillow. Tomorrow she would be at the World Cup and she would get to see Cedric. These thoughts brought a smile to her face as she drifted into a deep sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Leila snuggled close to her pillow trying to fall back asleep, but Granger's snoring was making it rather impossible. The snores seemed to be echoing through the room much to Leila's annoyance. So the young girl pulled her pillow over her head trying to block out any sound from the snores, but it didn't work. Leila groaned. There was no way she was putting up with this for the few precious hours of sleep she had left. She debated throwing her pillow at Granger, but that would require her to have to get up and grab her pillow in order to go back to sleep. No, that wouldn't work. So Leila leaned over the side of her bed and scanned Ginny's floor, finding Ginny's slippers. Leila reached for one of them before she heaved it at Granger. The slipper hit Granger causing the snoring girl to groan followed by silence, pure silence. Leila then snuggled back under her covers and fell back asleep until she was gently shaken awake.

"Leila, dear it's time to get up," Mrs. Weasley said softly.

"Five more minutes," Leila mumbled.

"Leila," Mrs. Weasley said with a tone of authority.

"I'm up, I'm up," Leila groaned.

The young Potter slowly opened one eye as Mrs. Weasley, using her wand tip for a source of light, walked over to Granger's bed. Knowing that if she didn't force herself up now she'd soon be back asleep, Leila pushed herself into a sitting position and gently rubbed her eyes. Mrs. Weasley gently awakened Hermione before she left the room and headed up the stairs, to Ron's room Leila assumed.

"So early," Granger moaned.

"Not another word out of you this early in the morning," Leila retorted.

Hermione raised her head and looked at Leila before she plopped it back onto her pillow. Leila rolled her eyes and looked to Ginny who was lying on her back with one eye opened. If they were this hard to get up, Leila could hardly imagine how difficult it would be to get the boys up. After stretching her arms, Leila quickly hopped out of her bed and her feet softly padded across the floor to her trunk to grab some clothes for the day. Normally, Leila liked to spend as much time in bed as possible before forcing herself up. Her friend Daphne often called her a procrastinator, but in Leila's mind she was definitely a good time manager. She knew exactly how much time she could lay in bed and do nothing before getting ready for the day without being late. But there was no time for that this morning because she didn't want to risk falling asleep again.

Once Leila had dressed herself in a green t-shirt and jeans she headed downstairs without the other girls with her rucksack in hand. She was slightly happy because for once she would be able to wear her Slytherin colors without taking much grief from Ron because Ireland's colors were also green. When Leila reached the kitchen she found that she had beaten Mrs. Weasley back downstairs. Apparently the boys were proving to be just as difficult as Leila had imagined. You'd think the prospect of going to the Quidditch World Cup would perk them right up. Just as Leila took a seat at the empty kitchen table footsteps were heard coming down the stairs. Mr. Weasley walked in to the kitchen carrying a stack of parchment, which Leila assumed were something about the World Cup. It was also strange seeing Mr. Weasley dressed in Muggle clothes: an old golfing sweater and an old pair of jeans that were slightly too big held up with a leather belt. Mr. Weasley looked up from his papers and looked startled for a second.

"Merlin Leila didn't realize you were here," Mr. Weasley said.

"Sorry," Leila apologized. "I'm not really awake yet."

"No matter," Mr. Weasley smiled. "So what d'you think? Do I look like I could pass for a Muggle? We're supposed to go incognito, you know,"

"Definitely an average everyday Muggle," Leila yawned.

"Good," Mr. Weasley smiled.

Leila rested her elbows on the table and cradled her head in her hands as Mrs. Weasley practically flew into the kitchen. She must not have noticed Leila sitting at the table beside Mr. Weasley because she went right for the stove and gave the giant pot simmering on it a stir. The woman turned around toward Leila and Mr. Weasley with her hands on her hips.

"I knew those boys were going to have us running behind," Mrs. Weasley muttered. "Luckily, I thought to put the porridge on before I went to wake them up."

Groggily, Harry, Fred, and George walked into the kitchen as Mrs. Weasley began to dish the porridge. Fred took a seat beside Leila while George and Harry sat across from them. The group was silent for several moments until George looked around the table in confusion.

"Where're Bill, Charlie, and Per—Per—Percy," George said attempting to stifle his yawn.

"And Ron and the girls?" Fred asked.

Normally, Leila would've had some retort that she was already there as an answer to Fred's question, but her eyelids were growing heavy again. Her eyes began to flutter closed as the conversation began to slightly pick up. Mrs. Weasley placed several bowls of porridge on the table. Fred reached for his own before he pushed one in front of Leila. Leila shook her head and slightly widened her eyes as she stared at the bowl of porridge in front of her.

"Well, Bill, Charlie, and Percy are Apparrating, aren't they?" Mrs. Weasley responded. "They can have a bit of a lie-in."

"So, they're still in bed?" Fred groaned. "Why can't we Apparate too?"

"Because you're not of age and haven't passed the test," Mrs. Weasley said. "And where are those girls?"

"Hear that? Ron's one of the girls," George snickered.

That was the last thing Leila heard before she fell back asleep in a very unlikely position: with her head in her hands above her porridge. Fred had asked her to pass him a paper from his father when she gave him no response. Harry, George, and Fred looked to Leila who sat there sleeping at the table. A grin covered Fred's face as he poked at Leila's arm. Her arm collapsed beneath her causing her head to plop face-first into her bowl of porridge. Almost immediately after Leila's face met the porridge she shot upright with her meal dripping down her face and onto the table. Leila groaned as she attempted to wipe the porridge from her face.

"What happened?" Leila questioned.

"You fell asleep," Harry chuckled.

"You could've moved my bowl," Leila muttered.

"But it was really much more comical this way," Fred grinned.

"For you maybe," Leila groaned.

Mrs. Weasley suggested that Leila go wash up and make sure that everyone upstairs was ready to go. Leila took one last swipe at the porridge in her hair before she pushed herself up from the table and headed for the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs she ran into Ginny and Hermione who could hardly contain their laughter.

"What happened to you?" Ginny chuckled.

"My breakfast," Leila muttered. "And not a word from you, Granger."

Without even waiting for their responses, Leila pushed past the girls and marched up the stairs and straight for the bathroom. Using the mirror as her guide, she washed the porridge from her face before flipping her hair into the sink. She quickly washed her hair and wrung it out the best she could. With her hair still damp she walked back to Ginny's room and pulled a white baseball tee with green sleeves from her trunk and changed before she reexamined herself in the mirror. This was probably as good as it was going to get. She quickly scrunched her wet hair before she went further upstairs to make sure Ron was awake.

Leila gently knocked on Ron's door but the only response she got was the sound of gentle snoring. She rolled her eyes before opening the door and stomping across the room. Having a brother of her own, she knew exactly how to get him to wake up. Leila yanked to the covers from Ron which caused his eyes to instantly open. He then pushed himself into the corner of his bed against the wall and wrapped his arms around his body like he was hugging himself.

"Bloody hell, Leila," Ron gasped.

"Get up," Leila retorted.

"I'm up," Ron groaned.

"Get dressed," Leila commanded.

"You need to leave first," Ron blushed.

Leila made eye contact with Ron that caused him to instantly look away and his face to turn even redder. She raised an eyebrow at him before she quickly turned on her heel and headed out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"Don't even think of going back to sleep," Leila shouted.

Without waiting for Ron, Leila went back downstairs she found Mrs. Weasley emptying Fred and George's pockets much to the twins' dismay. Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes products were zooming from their pockets and into Mrs. Weasley's hands. With her hands full of the twins' products, Mrs. Weasley threw them into the trash.

"We told you to get rid of the lot," Mrs. Weasley said irritably.

"Those took six months to develop!" Fred shouted.

Fred moved to retrieve them from the trash, but Mrs. Weasley turned around and flashed him a look that stopped him in his tracks.

"Oh a fine way to spend six months!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked. "No wonder you two didn't get more O.W.L.s."

Fred stood there breathing heavily, his anger easily read on his face. Just then, Ron came pounding down the stairs and literally ran into Leila, causing both of them to go falling onto the floor. The scene diffused the tension a bit as Leila groaned for Ron to get off. A flustered Ron pushed himself back into a standing position as Leila picked herself up as well. Despite his overall sour mood toward his mother, a slight grin spread over Fred's face.

"I think Ron's falling for Leila," Fred joked.

"Fred!" Ron shouted.

"You walked right into that one by literally falling head over heels on top of her," Fred responded.

"Oh, yeah, I suppose," Ron muttered.

Mrs. Weasley quickly shoved a bowl of porridge into Ron's hands which he instantly began to devour. Leila walked over to the table and snatched a piece of toast before she moved to stand by Ginny. It seemed like she barely had two bites eaten before the twins hoisted their rucksacks to their shoulders and walked out the door. Mrs. Weasley placed a kiss on Mr. Weasley's cheek before he opened the door and motioned for them to head on out. Leila reached for her bag and headed out the door behind Harry and was followed by Ginny and Hermione. Mr. Weasley still stood holding the door.

"Ron!" Mr. Weasley yelled.

Leila turned back to watch Ron shove his bowl into his mother's hands before he took a couple pieces of toast and ran out the door. He passed by his father and didn't slow down his jog until he was walking with Harry and Leila still shoving his toast into his mouth. They could see Fred and George walking a short distance ahead of them followed by Hermione and Ginny and they assumed that it was safe to follow them. They walked into a wooded area as Mr. Weasley jogged to be at the front of the group, calling for Fred and George to slow down.

"Ron, where exactly are we going?" Harry asked.

"Dunno," Ron said finishing up his last bite of toast.

Leila wasn't sure where they were going either, but she was excited to see Cedric. Despite Harry's protests that she fancied him, however true they were, she still missed her friend. She and Cedric had been friends since he had helped her reach a library book her first year. Cedric was easy to get along with and didn't judge her unlike most everyone else at Hogwarts. Leila softly smiled to herself thinking of her friend when Harry jabbed her arm. Thankfully he did that when she did because otherwise she may have walked straight into a tree. Leila quickly sidestepped the tree and looked to Ron who was chuckling to himself.

"Shut up, Ron," Leila muttered.

"Dad where are we going?" Ron shouted.

"Haven't the foggiest!" Mr. Weasley shouted. "Keep up!"

Leila, Ron, and Harry looked to each other before they jogged to catch up with Ginny and Hermione. Hermione looked back at them and gave one of her typical snooty looks before she turned back to her conversation with Ginny. Leila rolled her eyes at the know-it-all girl before she received a glance from her brother.

"Can you please behave?" Harry questioned.

"I will if she does," Leila muttered.

"I swear if you ruin this for me…" Harry began.

"You'll what?" Leila interrupted.

"Just be nice," Harry mumbled.

The group rounded a tree when a man became visible in the distance. Leila squinted her eyes to get a better look at the person, but she didn't recognize him. It wasn't Cedric, which made her heart drop a little. Hadn't he told her that they'd be traveling to the World Cup together? He would make having to travel with Hermione Granger so much more tolerable. The man standing near the trunk of a large tree must have recognized them because he shouted for Mr. Weasley.

"Arthur!" the man shouted. "'Bout time, son!"

"Sorry Amos," Mr. Weasley responded. "Some of us got a bit of a sleepy start."

Mr. Weasley turned around and looked to Ron who was yawning.

"Wonder who he could possibly be talking about," Leila smirked.

"You're scene at breakfast added to our tardiness too," Hermione retorted.

"How would you know? You weren't even there?" Leila hissed.

"Leila," Harry hissed in her ear.

Leila muttered an apology before she defensively folded her arms across her chest as Mr. Weasley shook hands with Amos. The elder Weasley then turned around to make the introductions.

"This is Amos Diggory, everyone," Mr. Weasley started. "Works with me at the Ministry for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."

Just then, rustling of tree branches came from overhead. Leila looked straight up and smiled as a body jumped from the tree. Cedric. He landed easily on his feet without managing to fall. He winked at Leila before he straightened himself into a standing position. Mr. Weasley outstretched his hand to shake Cedric's, which Cedric accepted and shook with a smile on his face. Fred and George stood there with frowns on their faces. They clearly still hadn't gotten over Hufflepuff beating Gryffindor last year.

"And this strapping young lad must be Cedric, am I right?" Arthur continued.

"Yes, sir," Cedric said politely.

"I think we all know Cedric," Leila giggled.

"Some of us better than others," Harry muttered.

Leila's eyes narrowed at her brother. He wanted her to be nice to Granger, well then he had certainly better be nice to Cedric. Leila took a few steps closer to Cedric and smiled.

"Merlin's beard, you must be Leila Potter. Ced's told us all about you," Amos said. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Hello," Leila said awkwardly.

"Dad," Cedric groaned.

"And that must be your brother Harry," Amos Diggory continued.

"Yes, sir," Leila said.

"Heard all about that Gryffindor and Hufflepuff match last year. Told Ced here that'll be a story to tell his grandchildren someday…tell 'em that he beat Harry Potter," Amos furthered.

"Dad, I told you that Harry fell off his broom," Cedric began. "It was an accident…the dementors…"

"Yes, but you didn't fall off your broom, did you?" Amos said as he threw his arm around his son's shoulder. "Always modest, our Ced, always the gentleman…"

Amos Diggory began to carry on about Cedric as he walked toward Mr. Weasley. Cedric turned to Leila with a look of embarrassment on his face. He then looked to Harry, who had been standing near Ron listening in on their conversation. Cedric mouthed an apology to Harry, but Harry turned toward Ron instead of responding. Cedric sighed and looked to Leila once more.

"Sorry 'bout him," Cedric whispered.

"I'm not the one you need to worry about," Leila responded.

"Harry hates me doesn't he?" Cedric asked.

"I wouldn't necessarily say hate, more like a very strong dislike; but it could be worse," Leila shrugged.

"How so?" Cedric furthered.

"You could be Malfoy," Leila smirked.

"Very true," Cedric chuckled.

"This way!" Mr. Weasley shouted.

The group then began walking again as Mr. Weasley and Mr. Diggory took the lead. Leila and Cedric brought up the rear of the group. Every once in a while, Leila could see Ron's head slightly turn around and look at her walking with Cedric; but she shrugged it off as she continued to talk to her friend.

"I really do hope you won't hold what my dad said about your brother against me," Cedric said.

"Of course not, but it does make me curious as to why your dad didn't bring up last year's Slytherin and Hufflepuff match," Leila smirked.

"Maybe it has something to do with one of Slytherin's Chasers, whom I happen to be walking with, scoring all those points and a blonde-headed git beating me to the Snitch," Cedric said.

"Hmm…I'd say your guess is pretty accurate," Leila laughed.

"You think?" Cedric chuckled. "Still pains me to think about it."

Cedric pretended to pound at his heart which caused Leila to snort. Harry and Ron looked back at them before Harry turned Ron away as they started up the hill.

"I think it's at the top of the hill, here," Cedric said.

"What is?" Leila asked.

"The Portkey," Cedric answered.

Leila nodded her head. She knew from her studies that a Portkey was an enchanted object designed to instantly bring anyone touching it to a predetermined, specific location. She also knew that normally, Portkeys were everyday objects that wouldn't draw attention to Muggles and they could transport more than one person at a time. While Leila had never traveled by Portkey before, she already preferred it than having to walk or take some form of Muggle transportation all the way to the Quidditch World Cup. Although she did have to admit that she was somewhat nervous to travel this way. From what she read, it was a very safe way to travel; but still many what-ifs plagued her thoughts.

"Found it!" Fred called from the top of the hill.

"We don't want to be late," Cedric said.

Leila nodded before she took a deep breath as she jogged up the hill to catch up with the rest of the group, Cedric not far behind her. Leila ran past Harry whom she gave a proper shove with a grin on her face which sent him hurtling into Ron. Leila laughed as Ron caught Harry before her ginger-haired friend took off after her leaving Harry to find his balance. When they reached the top of the hill, Leila found Fred, George, and Ginny already standing around an old boot. Cedric stopped next to Leila, but Ron squeezed himself in between them.

"Get yourself into a good position!" Mr. Weasley commanded.

"Got mine," Ron said.

George snickered across from them as Harry stopped on the other side of Leila.

"Why are we standing around this manky old boot?" Harry asked.

"It's not just any manky old boot, mate; it's a Portkey," Fred answered.

"A Portkey?" Harry continued.

"You clearly don't pay attention in Charms class," Leila retorted.

"Time to go! You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all…a finger will do," Mr. Diggory said.

All ten of them bent over to lay on the grass with their bulky packs on them. Leila felt squished between Ron and her brother as she reached out a finger for the boot. Just to be safe, Leila curled her finger around one of the laces before she exhaled the breath she had been holding in. Leila turned toward Ron, who smiled at her but she looked right past him toward Cedric who offered her a reassuring nod and smile. Then Mr. Diggory began the countdown.

"Five…four…three…"

"Harry!" Mr. Weasley shouted.

Leila turned her head to see her brother finally reach his hand for the boot as Mr. Diggory finished the countdown. When Mr. Diggory got to one, Leila tightly closed her eyes right before it happened. There was a tug at her navel, feeling like she was being pulled forward. She could feel her body being lifted off the ground, which caused her to scream. Thankfully, she wasn't the only one. Granger's and Ron's voices all joined hers rippling through the air, although she couldn't tell if they were screaming for the same reason she was. Leila could feel Harry's and Ron's bodies slamming into her tiny frame, which made her rather thankful that she was clutching the shoe lace. Laughter and shouts of joy began to replace the screams of fear which caused Leila to open her eyes. This didn't seem too bad.

"All right kids, let go!" Mr. Weasley said.

"What?" Hermione and Leila gasped simultaneously.

"Let go!" Mr. Weasley shouted.

With her open hand, Leila reached for the hand closest to her own: her brother's. She tightly clutched his hand before she closed her eyes and released the old boot. Her screams once again escaped her lips and echoed through the air as she could feel her body free-falling; but she was rather thankful that her brother only held tighter onto her hand. Suddenly, Harry's body slammed to the ground and Leila's landed on top of his. They both groaned as Leila muttered an apology to her brother. She pushed herself off her brother only to collapse against the grass on her back. There was no way she was going to be able to force herself up after a fall like that. Her eyes glanced upward to see Mr. Weasley, Mr. Diggory, and Cedric gently floating downward while the rest of them lay flat against the ground.

"I bet that cleared your sinuses, eh?" Mr. Weasley laughed.

Cedric landed right in front of her and offered her his hand, which she willingly accepted. Leila blushed as their hands met, but the moment was over when she was on her feet again because Cedric then offered his hand to Harry. Harry looked at Cedric's hand for a moment before he looked to his sister who rolled her eyes. Harry then took Cedric's hand as the older boy helped him to his feet. Harry gruffly muttered his thanks before he purposely pushed his shoulder into Cedric as he walked toward Ron. Leila groaned before she and Cedric followed after Mr. Weasley toward two grumpy old wizards dressed as Muggles; or at least they were trying to, but not very well.

"Morning, Basil," Mr. Weasley greeted.

Mr. Weasley handed the man he greeted their boot, which the old man tossed into a large box. As Mr. Weasley engaged the man in conversation; Leila peeked into the box and noticed an old newspaper, empty drink cans, a flattened football, hangers…She assumed that all these items had been used as Portkeys to get to the Quidditch World Cup. The man in front of her searched the parchment for their campsite.

"Weasley…Weasley," the man said as he scanned the parchment. "About a quarter of a mile's walk over there, first field you come to. Site manager's called Mr. Roberts."

"Thanks, Basil," Mr. Weasley smiled.

"And where are my boy and I?" Mr. Diggory asked.

"Diggory…Diggory," the man muttered with his nose practically against the parchment. "Second field…ask for Mr. Payne."

Mr. Diggory shook the man called Basil's hand before the group set off once more, but this time through a deserted moor. It was hard to see anything in front of them through the mist. Several times Leila's clumsiness got the better of her as she ran into those closest to her. Finally, after about twenty minutes they came upon a small stone cottage that was marked with a #1. Just beyond it, the shapes of hundreds and hundreds of tents came into view through the mist. Leila knew that the Quidditch World Cup was a big deal, but never did she imagine that it would be _this_ big. This was only the first site. How many others were there just like it? Mr. Weasley stopped at the small cottage as the Diggory's said their goodbyes.

"I'll be seeing you," Cedric smiled at Leila.

Leila pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear as she smiled and nodded at Cedric. In the corner of her eyes, Leila could see Harry with his arms folded across his chest and a look of disgust on his face. Cedric and his father walked away as Mr. Weasley walked toward the man in the doorway. Leila could tell that this man was a Muggle and had nothing knowingly to do with the Wizarding world. Mr. Weasley cleared his throat before the man turned to him.

"Morning!" Mr. Weasley smiled.

"Morning," the man muttered.

"Would you be Mr. erm—Roberts?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Aye, that I would," Mr. Roberts answered. "And who might you be?"

"Weasley, booked a couple of days ago?" Mr. Weasley said, trying to jog the man's memory.

The Muggle man turned to a list he had tacked on the door.

"Aye," Mr. Roberts said. "You've got a space up there by the wood. Just one night, eh?"

"That's it," Mr. Weasley responded.

"You'll be paying now?" Mr. Roberts asked.

"Ah—yes-certainly," Mr. Weasley answered.

Mr. Weasley motioned to the man that he'd need a moment before he turned around with a somewhat frantic look on his face. He looked to Leila who had been standing the closest to him and motioned her closer to him. Leila reluctantly took a few steps as Mr. Weasley pulled out a roll of his Muggle money. Mr. Weasley muttered for Leila to help him as he started peeling the notes apart.

"How much do you need?" Leila whispered.

Mr. Weasley didn't respond, but Leila looked to a sign near the door which told the rates per person. Leila mentally tabulated how much it was going to cost before she whispered the amount to Mr. Weasley. Mr. Weasley nodded his head as if he understood, but he was still clearly having trouble telling the notes apart.

"This one is a—a—a ten? Yes, yes it is. I see the little number right there. So this is a five?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Actually, it's a twenty," Leila whispered. "Here, let me get it for you."

Leila quickly picked out the proper notes for Mr. Weasley and handed them to him as discreetly as possible before she rolled the others up and handed those back which he immediately placed back in his pocket. Mr. Weasley muttered his thanks as he walked back to Mr. Roberts. He handed the Muggle man the money and held his hand out as if he was waiting for change, but the man didn't give him any change and instead urged him into a conversation.

"You foreign?" Mr. Roberts asked.

"Foreign?" Mr. Weasley asked in a puzzled tone.

"You're not the first one who's had trouble with money," Mr. Roberts said as he pushed his nose closer to Mr. Weasley. "I had to try and pay me with great gold coins the size of hubcaps ten minutes ago."

"Did you really?" Mr. Weasley asked nervously.

"Never been this crowded," the man continued. "Hundreds of pre-bookings. People usually just turn up…"

"Is that right?" Mr. Weasley said, his voice sounding rather tight.

"Aye. People from all over. Loads of foreigners," Mr. Roberts started.

"Family reunion," Leila blurted out. "One big family reunion."

"Huh, well they're not just foreigners. There's some weirdos too,"

"Every family has them," Leila said. "Whether we claim them or not."

"Just so you know there's one bloke walking around in a kilt and poncho?" Mr. Roberts asked. "A freak if I ever did see one…"

Just then, a wizard whom Leila was sure was in charge of security appeared out of thin air right next to Leila and startled her, but the man pointed his wand at Mr. Roberts and Obliviated him. The Muggle's eyes went out of focus and a dreamy look fell over his face. Leila looked to her brother because they both recognized the symptoms as that of one who had their memory modified. Mr. Roberts handed Mr. Weasley a map and his change in a rather docile tone. The security wizard ushered them toward the gate of the campsite. As he walked with them, he complained about Mr. Roberts needing Memory Charms at least ten times a day and about Ludo Bagman who had a habit of running his mouth about magical things in front of Muggles. Leila knew that Mr. Bagman once played for the Wimbourne Wasps as a Beater, probably one of the best to ever have graced the game of Quidditch; but what he was doing now Leila wasn't exactly sure until Ginny mentioned that the man was the Head of Magical Games and Sports.

The group trudged through the field between the seemingly countless rows of tents. Some of them had taken the security ordinances seriously, making their campsites looking as Muggle-like as possible while others had made careless mistakes. Leila chuckled and pointed out to her brother one tent with a chimney on it while he showed her one with a weather vane. Clearly, some wizards were just as uneducated Muggles. It was no wonder Mr. Roberts was getting suspicious; but what probably made the man this way were some of the more extravagant camp sites. One tent looked like a miniature silk version of the Taj Mahal with peacocks tethered to the entrance. Another tent was three stories tall and yet another had a small garden attached to the front complete with a birdbath, sundial, and fountain.

"Mr. Weasley, I thought the rules were to be incognito as possible," Leila said.

"Yes well, it's always the same, Leila," Mr. Weasley said smiling. "Some of us can't resist showing off when we get together. And look here, this is us."

Mr. Weasley smiled contentedly as he pointed to an empty plot with a sign labeled "Weezly" pounded into the ground.

"Dad how far are we from the pitch?" Ron asked.

"Right on the other side of that wood, Ron," Mr. Weasley said.

"So far?" Ron asked.

"We're as close as we could be," Mr. Weasley responded. "Now, we'll need to do this the Muggle way; putting the tents up by hand. It shouldn't be too difficult, eh? Muggles do it all the time. Now, where to start?"

Mr. Weasley looked to Harry and Leila who both shrugged. They had never been camping. There had only been two times when they had been allowed to go anywhere with the Dursleys. The first time being Piers Polkiss' birthday party where she had nearly drowned and the other had been Dudley's birthday when they had gone to the zoo and Harry set a boa constrictor loose. Strange things always seemed to happen when the Potter twins went with the Dursleys, which did not fit into the "normal" life the Durselys led. Often times, Leila and Harry were forced to stay with Mrs. Figg whose house was covered with cats and crocheted tea cozies. Then, like usual, Hermione began to tell them what to do.

"Dad and I usually put the tent together," Hermione said. "Harry grab that pole there, Ron…"

"If she thinks she can tell me what to do…" Leila muttered.

"She has enough boys to do the work for her. I think you're safe," Ginny winked.

Harry, Ron, Fred, George, and Mr. Weasley listened to Hermione's instructions while Ginny and Leila sat on the grass watching them attempt to put the tent together. Leila tried to drone out Granger going on about her prior camping trips…Forest of Dean blah blah blah…Considering the size of that tent, she might be able to get away with accidentally strangling or suffocating the girl in her sleep. Leila smirked at the thought; but she knew that was never going to happen. Besides, she may be in Slytherin but she didn't condone killing people. When the boys finally finished setting the tent up, they took a step back to admire their work. Ron walked over and stood beside Leila who was still seated on the grass.

"Home, sweet home," Mr. Weasley smiled.

"It wasn't as hard as Hermione said it was," Ron said to Leila.

Leila shook her head because more than once she had seen Ron struggling with his end of things and Granger ended up doing it for him. Mr. Weasley gently patted the canvas on the tent .

"Do we have another tent?" Hermione asked.

"No, so we'll be a bit cramped with so many of us," Mr. Weasley said. "But I think we'll all be able to squeeze right in. Let's have a look, shall we?"

Mr. Weasley dropped to his hands and knees and entered the tent. Harry, Leila, and Hermione all looked to each other. They all had the same thought: how were they going to fit? This was a Muggle tent built for two people, not ten. When Leila first saw the tent, she thought that it might have been a tent for the girls; but all of them? The Weasleys didn't appear to have the same concern because they simply followed their father into the tent. Hermione followed in after Ginny leaving Harry and Leila standing outside.

"Ladies first," Harry said.

Leila raised an eyebrow at her brother as he pushed her into the tent. She tumbled into the tent but thankfully one she was inside the tent, she found an armchair to brace herself against to keep from falling. Wait, an armchair? Leila's eyes widened at the sight of the tent before her. The outside of the tent gave this place no justice: the inside was rather huge. Obviously the place had some enchantments on it; but when Mr. Weasley sad that they'd be cramped, she thought he meant literally.

"Ron, get out of the kitchen; we're all hungry," Mr. Weasley called before he went to reprimand the twins for having their feet on the table.

Bloody hell! The place had a kitchen. From what she could see, it looked like there were two rooms with bunks, a kitchen, a bathroom, not to mention the sitting room that they were already standing in. Granted, the décor wasn't much to be desired. Just like Mrs. Figg's house, there were crocheted covers over the mismatched furniture, not to mention that it even had the strong smell of cats; but Leila would take this place over number four Privet Drive any day. Leila looked to her brother who was actually showing the amazement on his face.

"I love magic," Harry whispered.

"You'd think the amazement would have worn off by now," Leila quipped.

"You can't tell me that you don't…" Harry began.

"I never said that," Leila hissed. "I was just saying that even after three years, sometimes it still feels like the first time all over again."

"Oh," Harry muttered. "Yeah, it does."

Leila looked to her brother and rolled her eyes as she gave him a playful shove in return for pushing her in. She then saw the bunk area Ginny had walked into with Granger. Assuming that was where the girls were sleeping, Leila took her rucksack and walked up the few steps to find Granger sitting on the bottom bunk of one of the beds, while Ginny had climbed to the top bunk. Leila threw her rucksack onto the top bunk of the other set of bunks. She was just about to climb up when Ron called for them.

"Leila, Hermione, c'mon," Ron called.

Leila looked to Hermione Granger and rolled her eyes. She quickly walked past the girl to find Harry and Ron standing near the entrance to the tent with a map and a metal pail.

"What d'you want?" Leila groaned.

"Dad wants us to get some water for anti-Muggle security," Ron said.

"And that has what to do with me?" Leila asked.

"Just figured you'd want to have a look around," Ron shrugged.

Ron looked to her with a rather hopeful look on his face, which caused Leila to sigh. She supposed it couldn't hurt anything to go with them. Besides, maybe she'd run into some of her school friends. Not that she didn't love spending time with Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George; but she really hoped that maybe they'd be able to run into Cedric again. Leila agreed as Ron opened the flap to the tent for her, Harry, and Hermione to walk out. They began to walk toward the water tap and Ron jogged to catch up to Leila so he could walk on the other side of her. Ron clumsily swung the pail, hitting Leila in the leg. She looked to him but he wouldn't make eye contact with her and was blushing furiously.

"Sorry," Ron muttered.

"Just don't do it again," Leila retorted.

Ron nodded his head as they began to walk by witches and wizards who clearly weren't as concerned about the anti-Muggle security as Mr. Weasley was. They walked past two little girls riding toy broomsticks. Granted, they only rose high enough for the girls feet to skim the grass; but nevertheless, a Ministry wizard spotted them and walked straight for them. They continued to walk toward the water tap as they walked by a group with star-spangled banner that read: The Salem Witches Institute. Just beyond the group of middle-aged American women gossiping, there was a group of American boys. Leila made eye contact with one of them who winked at her which caused her to blush and giggle. She was forced to look away when Harry yanked her by the arm.

"That hurts," Leila hissed.

"Good, then maybe you won't do it again," Harry hissed back.

"What's got your wand in a knot," Leila retorted.

Harry didn't respond because Ron stopped them as it seemed like their surroundings were completely green. The tents they walked by were covered in shamrocks. They hardly looked like tents at all, rather short, oddly shaped hills. Then out of one of the tents in front of them walked out Seamus Finnigan, one of Harry's roommates, and Dean Thomas, another one of Harry's roommates. Seamus spotted them and strode toward them.

"Harry! Ron! Hermione!" Seamus greeted. "…and _you_."

"I have a name you know," Leila retorted.

"Yeah, I know that. I just choose not to use it," Seamus quipped.

"Well, you know what…" Leila began.

"Leila," Harry hissed.

"I—I.." Leila stumbled. "Can see when I'm not wanted."

Leila narrowed her eyes at Seamus Finnigan before she spun around and walked away from them. Ron called after her, but she ignored him and kept walking. Seamus Finnigan was a prat. He never even gave her a fair chance since she was in Slytherin, not that she had actually given him one. But things had been tense between them since second year when Finnigan accused her of being the Heir of Slytherin. And when Granger was petrified it seemed to add fuel to his fire because he knew that she didn't like the girl. Thankfully, Harry didn't believe his roommate's claims; but that didn't stop most of the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws from believing him. But what irked her the most was that when it came out that she wasn't the Heir of Slytherin, Finnigan didn't even attempt to apologize to her.

As Leila stormed away, she didn't even notice where she had been walking. She stomped past an area with posters of the Bulgarain Seeker Viktor Krum plastered over their tents. Her anger still seethed within her. Not only was she mad at Finnigan; but she was upset that neither Harry nor Ron had chased after her. Sure, Ron had called for her; but one of them should have come with her. Who knew what kind of creeps she might run into. Just then, an arm snaked around her from behind causing her to scream.

"Bloody hell, Leila," the voice behind her said. "You could give the Bandon Banshee a run for her Galleons."

Leila turned around to see a familiar blonde. She smiled and threw her arms around her friend, Daphne Greengrass. Daphne chuckled as she hugged Leila back.

"I completely forgot you were going to be here," Leila said.

"Of course you did. You were probably too busy to think of me knowing that Cedric was also going to be here," Daphne teased.

"Sh!" Leila shushed.

"No one's going to hear me," Daphne said rolling her eyes. "But enough of Cedric, when did you get here?"

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I came with him this morning," Leila responded.

"I swear if I have to hear another story about him…" Daphne began.

"I thought you didn't mind Cedric; besides, he's my friend," Leila argued.

"Yeah, just like Draco thinks of you as his _friend_," Daphne smirked.

"I won't talk about Cedric if you promise not to talk about Malfoy. Deal?" Leila asked.

"I'm not making any promises," Daphne retorted.

"Why not?" Leila questioned.

"Because then this wouldn't be any fun," Daphne chuckled. "Turn around."

Leila turned her head to see a platinum-blonde teenage boy dressed in black walking toward them. Her eyes widened as she turned around and looked to Daphne pointedly. The last thing she wanted to do was spend any time with Draco Malfoy. Leila only hoped that Draco would mistake her for Astoria, Daphne's younger sister, but given the rate he was steadily walking in their direction, she doubted he thought so. Draco Malfoy had been a pain in her arse since she met him on the Hogwarts Express, and that was putting it gently.

"You did this on purpose," Leila whispered.

"It's not like I told him you were here. I just found you myself," Daphne responded.

Leila turned around once more to see Draco waving in their direction.

"Leila Potter, is that you?" Draco called.

"No!" Leila called back before she threw her hands over her mouth. That was clearly the wrong response. "Shoot. Go. Go. GO!"

Leila pushed Daphne forward as they began running through the crowd of people. The girls giggled loudly as they weaved in and out of the World Cup spectators. Leila could hear whispers of her name along with "The Girl Who Lived;" but really she thought the name to be a mistake. She didn't have a scar like her brother; well at least not a magical one. She did however have plenty of scars from her clumsiness, including a faint one on one of her knuckles. When the girls thought they had finally outrun Draco, they stopped at a tent selling sweets, nearly out of breath.

"That was fun," Leila said breathing heavily.

"While I agree with you; you shouldn't have run. You know as well as I do that Draco loves a good chase," Daphne panted.

"He'll find me soon enough at Hogwarts, which is all too soon if you ask me," Leila wheezed.

"He's really not that bad," Daphne argued.

"Well, he hasn't been chasing you for the last three year now has he?" Leila retorted.

"I bet if you'd give him a chance, he'd stop chasing," Daphne said.

"The day I give Draco Malfoy a chance is the day I go against everything I believe in," Leila said.

"What you believe in or what your brother believes in?" Daphne furthered.

Leila looked pointedly to her friend before she took a few steps away to examine the sweets in the tent. She picked up a container of Charm Cho and pretended to look at it rather intensely. While she loved her best friend, there were two somewhat sore spots for them: Draco and Harry. She knew that Daphne had been friends with Draco Malfoy since practically birth and for some reason, her friend had a certain interest in the two of them. Daphne's issue with Harry on the other hand was that she thought Harry manipulated his sister. Leila thought her friend's accusation was a load of bullock. She didn't always do things for Harry or do everything Harry did or believe things just because Harry did. She was more than capable of thinking and acting on her own. Besides, if Harry was as manipulating as Daphne claimed, she'd probably be friends with Granger by now. Daphne walked up to Leila. Leila knew that her friend hadn't meant to provoke her.

"Did you want to share a package of Droobles with me?" Daphne asked.

"Yeah," Leila said with a smile.

"Good," Daphne grinned back. "Because we have much to discuss."

Daphne paid for a package of Droobles Best Blowing Gum before the girls exited the tent and wandered through the rows and rows of tents. The girls walked and chatted about their summers and the subject every teenage girl loves: boys. For the most part, Leila kept her mouth shut; but Daphne was not shy about the subject. Currently, her best friend fancied Miles Bletchley, who was a year ahead of them at Hogwarts and in their House, not to mention that he was the Keeper for the Slytherin Quidditch team.

"I may need you to explain everything about Quidditch to me before the match starts. We're seated with the Bletchleys and I don't want to look like an utter fool in front of Miles," Daphne said.

"You do realize you were the one raised in the Wizarding world, right?" Leila chuckled.

"I never paid any mind to Quidditch; where are you sitting?" Daphne asked.

"Not exactly sure. I was just simply grateful Mr. Weasley invited Harry and I to come along," Leila said.

"Now about the players…" Daphne began.

"He'll probably be too interested in the match to talk much; but if he does talk to you just tell him that your favorite player is Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker. Bletchley will likely drone on for hours about him meaning he'll do all the talking and you will hardly have to," Leila said.

"Viktor Krum," Daphne muttered to herself. "Viktor Krum."

"But I'd suggest you not drool over him in front of Bletchley if you're trying to impress him; although, I can't say that he won't be drooling himself," Leila retorted.

"Leila, there you are! Been looking all over for you!" a voice said from behind.

Leila turned around to see Fred and George walking straight toward her. Daphne and Leila said their goodbyes as Fred and George walked Leila back to the tent. Apparently, when Ron, Harry, and Hermione returned to the tent and they didn't find Leila; they sent Fred and George out to find her. Leila hadn't realized exactly how far she had wandered away until Fred and George walked her back. When they walked into the tent, Leila instantly spotted man dressed rather stiffly. He looked to be a rather serious person; but Percy Weasley moved forward.

"Mr. Crouch, this is Leila Potter," Percy introduced.

"Leila, pleased to meet you," Crouch said dryly. "Weatherby has told me about you."

"Weatherby?" Leila questioned.

As Fred and George choked back their laughter, Leila looked to Percy whose face was flushed and then she understood. She mouthed "oh" and nodded her head, also trying to keep herself from bursting into laughter. So this was the infamous Mr. Crouch. The man did appear to look important; but he also looked to be rather boring. Just from her first impression of the man, she couldn't imagine working for him; but Percy was determined to work his way up in the Ministry. Kissing arse must come with the territory and it was something Percy was rather good at. Leila also noticed a second unknown man in the room; but he didn't stay unknown for long as he came up to her and vigorously shook her hand.

"Leila Potter, can't tell you what a pleasure it is to meet you. I've heard that you possess some Quidditch skills like your brother," the man said. "Oh heavens me, where are my manners? I'm Ludo Bagman."

"Hello," Leila said awkwardly.

"Well—erm—I expect you'll both be glad when this is over?" Mr. Weasley said to relieve the awkwardness from Leila.

"Glad! I don't know when I've had more fun!" Ludo began. "Although, the best is yet to come as they say. Plenty left to organize, eh Barty?"

"We agreed not to make any announcements until…" Crouch began.

"They've agreed, haven't they?" Bagman argued. "But I bet these kids will know soon enough anyway. It is happening at Hogwarts after all."

"Ludo, we have business that needs attending to before the match begins," Crouch said rather sharply. "Thank you for the tea, Weatherby."

With that Mr. Crouch led Ludo Bagman from their tent.

"What's happening at Hogwarts, Dad?" Fred asked.

"You'll find out soon enough," Mr. Weasley smiled.

"It's classified information…" Percy began.

"Oh shut up, Weatherby," Fred said.

The hours until the match seemed to tick by slowly; yet their anticipation continued to build. Leila stayed inside the tent and played a game of Exploding Snap with Fred, George, and Ginny while Bill and Charlie played a game of Wizard's Chess. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gone outside to buy merchandise from one of the Apparating salesmen; but Leila had flat out refused to go with them. She didn't want to take a chance of running into Draco Malfoy again. She already had one close call and she didn't need another. When Harry came back, he tossed Leila a green rosette, a small Irish flag, and a pair of Omnioculars. She thanked her brother and stuck her plunder beside her as she finished the game of Exploding Snap. The group sat talking for a while until Mr. Weasley came back inside with a contagious look of excitement on his face before he addressed the group.

"It's time! Come on, let's go!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Leila followed after Mr. Weasley tightly clutching her Omniocular down a trail into the woods that was lined with lanterns for light. There were thousands of people headed the same direction they were: straight for the stadium. Leila couldn't help but grin as the excitement of the atmosphere consumed her: the sounds of crackling twigs, the shouts and laughter by those attending, not to mention the singing which Leila was somewhat convinced was caused by something a little stronger than Butterbeer. She turned to her right and noticed Ron grinning at her before he quickly looked away which didn't go unnoticed by Fred and George who began to mercilessly tease poor Ron; but the reason for the teasing went completely unnoticed by Leila who simply shrugged.

"So who are you sitting by, Leila?" Fred chuckled.

"Why does it matter to you?" Leila questioned back.

"It doesn't; but I think there's _someone_ in the group who would like to know?" George responded.

"Who?" Leila retorted.

"Harry," Ron spluttered.

"What about me?" Harry asked.

"Apparently, you want to know who I'm sitting by," Leila said rolling her eyes.

"I do?" Harry questioned.

While Leila's head was turned back toward her brother, Ron was furiously nodding his head 'yes' from behind her. Harry seemed to catch on as he fumbled to find the words to say.

"Oh, yeah…I do," Harry lied.

Leila looked quizzically to her brother. Harry shrugged toward Ron, who slapped his palm against his face.

"Boys," Leila muttered.

As Leila turned back around, she finally caught a glimpse of the stadium before them. This gigantic stadium with gold walls easily put the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch to shame. The place looked like it could probably fit Hogwarts itself inside, maybe even multiple times. Leila stopped where she was walking and looked to her brother who stopped beside her. Both Potter twins stood there staring at the place awestruck. Mr. Weasley chuckled at their response.

"Now that's a Quidditch pitch," Harry grinned.

"Seats a hundred thousand," Mr. Weasley beamed proudly. "Ministry task force of over five hundred workers has been working on it all year."

"Because of the Muggles?" Leila asked.

"Exactly right, Leila! But the genius part is, if a Muggle gets too close they suddenly remember an urgent appointment and dash away…bless them," Mr. Weasley said. "All right kids, this way."

Mr. Weasley motioned for them to follow him through the swarm of people who were trying to make their way into the stadium. Leila stayed close to Mr. Weasley not wanting to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the crowd. As they approached the Ministry witch at the entrance, Mr. Weasley stood at the woman's side and handed her the tickets as each individual passed by.

"Charlie, Leila, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, George…" Mr. Weasley began calling them off.

"I'm Fred," George said.

"Sorry, Fred," Mr. Weasley said.

"But I'm Fred," Fred added.

"Fred, George, or whatever names you're going by these days; we don't have time for this," Mr. Weasley said sternly.

"It's nothing to get your wand in a knot over," Fred said.

"…clearly doesn't understand the ramifications…" Percy muttered.

"I'll show you ramifications…" Fred hissed.

"Fred, just c'mon," Charlie said.

Fred narrowed his eyes at Percy before he shook his head and followed behind George. They stood just inside the stadium, waiting for the others to get in. Besides, it's not like the line was moving very fast anyways with the thousands of people trying to find their seats in the giant stadium. Some of the people dressed very vibrantly, completely head to toe in either the emerald green or the maroon. Leila had been focused on the vast array of people until Fred started to complain.

"Who does he think he is," Fred muttered.

"Minister of Magic," George whispered.

"Remind me that if he ever makes Minister of Magic, I'm leaving the country," Fred sneered.

"I'm with you on that one," George added.

"Count me in too," Leila added.

"Give Percy a break," Charlie said. "It sounds like he's overloaded with his new job."

"So, you won't be joining us then?" Fred asked.

"I already live in another country," Charlie grinned.

"Good, we're moving in with you then," Ron said.

"I don't think so," Charlie chuckled.

"Now, I don't know about you lot; but I'd like to see the match while I'm still living," Bill quipped interrupting their conversation.

They all looked as Bill pointed forward to the increasing gap in front of them. The group closed the gap before Mr. Weasley pushed his way back to the front of the group. He instructed them all that they were in the Ministry's top box. They were to go up the stairs until they couldn't climb any farther. As they finally began to ascend the purple carpeted stairs, they began to move faster as people began to divert to the left or the right to find their seats. Leila spotted one of her Slytherin classmates, Theodore Nott, who sat with his father. He waved to her and she waved back much to Harry's dismay who tried to pull her arm down. Leila turned toward her brother and narrowed her eyes at him before she waved at Theo once more just for good measure. Harry muttered some not very nice words in her ear; but she ignored him as the group continued to climb what looked like the final section of what seemed like never-ending stairs.

Mr. Weasley led the group into the small box which was the highest point in the stadium and exactly halfway between the golden goal posts. The box itself looked somewhat ornate. There was two rows of comfortable-looking golden chairs with purple fabric. Leila stopped just at the entrance to the box to take in the view of the stadium. It was quite breath-taking. She had only watched Quidditch matches her first year; but the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch didn't even begin to compare to this place that seated a hundred thousand witches and wizards. Mr. Weasley walked past her and took the seat farthest away from the entrance. He was followed by Percy, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Ginny, Hermione…and suddenly, there was only two seats left in the front row. Leila looked to Harry and Ron who were also staring down into the stadium below, not even noticing their predicament. While Leila refused to sit beside Granger, she wanted to see who else was going to be taking their seats in the box before she made her decision to sit back a row. The only seat taken in the back row was the second to last one. It was taken by a creature who was draped in a tea towel like a toga with long batlike ears looking down…a house-elf.

"Dobby?" Harry asked as he noticed what Leila was looking at.

"I seriously doubt it Harry," Leila scoffed.

But the creature seemed to take notice of the Potter twins. The house-elf looked up at them and then Harry was proved wrong. The creature wasn't Dobby; but they did share similarities. Then again, that was probably true for most house-elves. Leila felt somewhat uncomfortable as the house-elf started at them blankly for a few moments.

"Did sir just call me Dobby?" the house-elf squeaked.

"Now you've done it," Leila muttered.

"Sorry," Harry apologized while giving Leila a look. "It just thought that you were someone I knew."

"But I knows Dobby, sir," the house-elf said. "I'm Winky—you must be Harry Potter, sir. Dobby talks about you all the time."

"You've talked to Dobby recently?" Harry asked. "How is he?"

"Harry, we have bigger concerns at the moment," Leila groaned.

"Shut it, Leila," Harry said. "How is Dobby enjoying his freedom?"

"I'm sure he's loving it," Leila mocked.

Leila then turned away from Harry's conversation with the house-elf and looked to Ron whom she found staring at her. She gave him an odd look which caused an intense blush to creep onto his face. He moved his shoulders awkwardly as Leila continued to look at him.

"So—erm—that's a house-elf?" Ron asked. "Weird things, aren't they?"

"Dobby was weirder," Leila responded.

"We—could—erm—sit down—if you—erm—if you'd like to," Ron fumbled to suggest.

"I—erm…" Leila began when a hand clasped her shoulder.

Leila turned around to see Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, clasping her shoulder. With a smile on his face, he removed his hand from her shoulder and extended it to her. Percy pushed his way over to them and bowed so low to the Minster that his glasses fell off his face and shattered. Leila attempted to stifle a chuckle as Percy quickly pulled his wand to repair his glasses. Without Fudge even acknowledging his presence, Percy sheepishly slunk back to his seat beside his father. Ron stood there with a smug look on his face, seeing Percy put into his place especially after how much of a pompous git he had been recently. Fudge then interrupted Harry's conversation with Winky to greet him. His greeting to Harry was far warmer and more genuine than Leila's had been; but either way, Percy still sat far enough away shooting them looks of jealousy. Fudge then gently moved Leila to the left and into Ron so that he could first introduce Harry to the Bulgarian minister. Leila rolled her eyes at the Minister's obvious favoritism toward Harry. Honestly, after living with him for the past fourteen years, she couldn't figure out what was so bloody special about him except that he was the "Boy-Who-Lived" but Leila was just as famous as he was, yet she always seemed to come in second to her brother. For once in her life, she just wanted to come out on top of Harry.


End file.
